Final Champion Fantasy
by countdownshot
Summary: What if Gaia was never saved from the meteor even through "Holy". In an attempt to survive,the life stream reverted it's time to when it first existed,but each time Minerva is to summon a champion from another universe to aid in the planet's struggle but even that had failed for over a millennium.Our martial artist(OC) is next in line, will he be a just another pawn in this cycle?.
1. Chapter 1 The 1001st champion

THIS VERSION HAVE BEEN REMASTERED! (I hope so)

Disclaimer!

I don't own final fantasy or any other franchise in this story the rightly belong to SQUARE ENIX

So spare me the court order

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**My OC's got a history that will clarify who and what he is (on my profile) , other than the fact that he's a martial artist.**

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**Bold is for names of techniques/spells/limit break so on…. (They could be thoughts or shouted out like a retard) **

_Italics are for thoughts/dream sequence/voices (lol)_

_**Bold and italics are references**_

**Also each technique is probably going be from street fighter...or some anime/game so if you are wondering what it looks like (even though i describe it)then...meh Google it or something..._**

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**Chapter 1 : The 1001****st**** Champion**

2012 summer, 12th of May.

Somewhere in south west Detroit, an ice cream truck stops in the neighborhood on a fairly hot Saturday afternoon. Shortly, after a several stops around the neighborhood a shadow casts itself upon the bored ice cream man as he parked his van, looking up it belonged to a short young man, who immediately ordered double scoop of strawberry ice cream.

His choice seemed to contradict his looks, but he didn't care. The man proceeded down the neighborhood lazily and halted to rub his left shoulder. "ouch…" he mumbled to himself and added "well shit…getting up after that kick was pretty impressive I'll give him that" The man grumbled to himself in a heavy voice.

Taking a turn which led to a walkway into a house. He stepped onto the porch, while fumbling for his keys and with a *click* the door opened. Heading directly into the kitchen and opening the freezer, the man from a little country called Armenia wasted no time. With ice cubes and a cloth bag in hand, he walked into the living room. Stopping momentarily to adjust a framed certificate on the wall, it was a high school graduation certificate; Name Jack Clayton, Birth date 1950, Class of 1968 and some typical graduation message.

The interior of Clay's house was nothing close to fancy, it was just…..simple and also clean and large for 25 year old bachelor **(if you haven't read my OC's profile then don't ask why he is still 25 despite being born in 1950**). Lying on the couch, Clay wrapped the cloth around the ice bag and gently placed it on his left shoulder. He took off his maroon colored shirt and threw it on a short table next to him when he figured it would get wet.

Clayton… or Clay debated for a second to whether or not to apply some Voltaren on his shoulder. Taking the ice off his shoulder and examining it he saw that the "Humerus" muscle and some upper bicep muscles were swollen. "Damn…..Maybe using** Tetsuzanko (street fighter) **was a bad idea" Clay said to himself with a sigh.

The Eurasian shifted himself into a more comfortable position as he reached for a TV remote and started flipping through the channels and by the time he found something which was not as ridiculous as "sweet sixteen" or "I used to be fat" he realized that the ice had melted and the swelling had decreased, he then accurately threw the bag at the nearest dustbin.

_***Flash back to an hour ago***_

_**Southern district of Detroit **_

The alley way next to the run down movie theater was indeed filled with all sorts of low life. Muggers, rapist and pedophiles you name it. Some choose to live this way, and some were just on the other end of bad luck and poor fate. Midst the smelly garbage and rats stood a middle aged Hispanic man, who was launching barrages of punches and kicks at Clay. The older fellow had pieces of broken glass all over his hair and back for some odd reason.

Clay mumbled to himself while ducking under a swift left hook "These days….. everyone's got no patience at all" But then again…. he too was like that not long ago.

The thug seemed to have gotten a good form, footwork and a small build. He traded power for speed, which was not a bad idea. The result is that each recovery from attacks were much shorter. Plus openings between them were rare. Judging from his flurry of punches Clay deduced that he's got a background in boxing, though a sloppy but fast south-paw. It also appears that the man's kicks were very sharp and snapped very quickly but with no clear form, Clay guessed "_Karate maybe?"_ well either that or he damn well knew how to kick.

The attacker lacked the discipline needed to barely last a minute in a fight, which presented Clay a few opportunities to see through all his attack with his **RyuSei Seikuken**. Allowing Clay to dodge without any effort. He counter blocked causing each of man's strike to backfire. Using precise timing he defended using his elbow, making sure that it hits the knuckles every time a punch was thrown at him. Before the thug knew it, his fingers were fractured and swelling like a freshly baked pound cake. Clay then took a few small hops backward to asses the situation.

According to Clay the fight was supposedly over, his opponent was in no condition to go on but the man still persisted, so Clay decided to neutralize him before he could injure himself any further. Bending his knees slightly, Clay got ready for what seems to be a lunge. In a blur he closed the distance between them using a foot technique called **"Kaihou!" (Street fighter) **

Arriving below the man in a ducked position, he followed up with a kick "**Senkyutai!**"**(Street fighter)** A fast diagonal kick. Using his hands to push down towards the ground and thrusting his right leg diagonally to kick the opponent from his mid section, sending the man backward. Clay had to hold back some of his strength, but even with that the man lay motionless on the concrete floor. "ouch…sorry man, you had it coming" said Clay who was shrugging at the unconscious man.

Pulling out his cell phone, Clay walked out of the alley while calling the police to report a theft. The Eurasian always felt some sympathy for his "victims" but then again who was the victim in this scenario? It was definitely not Clay, or the owner of that little store that the Hispanic man just tried to rob, or was it the thief himself? He took a final glanced at the Hispanic man

**He was no longer on the ground.**

In a split second Clay spotted the man in the air charging at him with a kick, so with a single spinning motion Clay spun in an attempt to overpower the kick that was aimed at his face, countering it with a "Tetsuzanko!"** (Street fighter)**

A modified version of the typical shoulder charge, it hit his opponent on his shin/leg while he was kicking in midair. The impact was harsh as both parties were attacking, yet the man seemed unfazed by Clay's counter. After a short recovery he stepped forward, aiming a right straight at Clay, his hand reached so far that he could feel Clay's breath…but never touching him.

The man collapsed, eyes rolled backward...passed out from the shock.

Stepping through the broken glass, Clay grabbed a strawberry flavored chewing gum from the store in which the theft occurred, he flicked a one dollar bill onto the checkout counter where the owner was hiding under. Then vaulting himself back out onto the streets from the broken window he said without looking back "Keep the change.."

**_*flash back end*_**

"So that's the **Iron Will**….." mumbled clay "_being able to fight even after losing consciousness"_….he thought, the memory of the fight made Clay's thoughts wander aimlessly. Feeling a bit drowsy, Clay knew that he didn't even use that much energy. Plus he wasn't one for afternoon naps either, but before he knew it Clay uncontrollably slipped into a slumber.

***A place called Horizon***

"Cold, why is it so cold in the middle of summer?" Clay thought, shifting his body on the hard couch…."HARD COUCH?" the thought lingered in his mind for a moment, he then realized that he was laying on something hard, and definitely not his couch.

"**How are you feeling ….Clay?"** a woman's voice resonated inside his head. Clay's eyes opened in an instant, he found himself in a white room, no not a room he couldn't see any edge or end. Clay got up immediately fighting back the urge to panic, he walked in the general direction of….well, whatever this place is supposed to be.

The observed the ground he stood on, it was white and spanned as far as his eye can see. "Damn it! This is why you shouldn't have ice cream before bed" he mumbled to himself.

Closing his eyes Clay started thinking of Strawberry sundaes lots of strawberry sundaes, big ones. After all if this WAS a dream why waste it? But a few seconds later the results were disappointing.

"_Ok so it's not a dream…..then what is this place_?" he thought

**"You are in the Horizon" **the same voice from before resonated, this time not in his head but from behind him. Clay turned around to face nothing but whiteness "did you just read my thoughts?" he replied frantically to the cold air, while looking about for any signs of...**anything**.

He found this situation to be somewhat appalling "HEY...are we going do the whole I can't see the priest confession thing, because I'm going confess that I am confused to the level of epic shitness" proclaimed Clay who was not pleased with the situation one bit. He considered the possibility that he was kidnapped by some private security organization to test out their elite fighters again. **(Yes this happened to him before as he is a well known martial artist...read his profile)**

"**Patience Clay isn't that what you always stood up for?"** said the voice. Frowning, Clay couldn't help but pace about the area after hearing what the voice said. How did she know that about me? What the fuck is this place? His mind raced through hundreds of different possibilities…..but none of them could explain this.

Clay stood in the white **Horizon **with his arms crossed, looking quiet pissed. But as the air (or nothingness) started to materialize before Clay, ripples of green energy like floating water conjured in all direction directed to a single point. Trying to keep a straight face as he witnessed something in which some of us would call "summoning" in a more larger than life scale.

The voice was indeed a woman and a pretty one too, floating above the ground she had long, bright golden hair that reached past her shoulder, she was all lot taller than him and wore a yellow medieval armor resembling the Nord battle maiden "valkyrie", her spaulders extended from her back and has 2 spikes each pointing up and down, they seem larger than she can manage to carry and most notably her chest plate has a weird projection towards her head similar to a Chinese moon chakram, accompanied by a yellow and blue semi crown on her fore head.

The woman wielded a huge staff like spear very similar to the **"dragon whiskers"** on her right hand. On her left, she carries a silver and yellow round shield which once again seemed larger than she could carry, and to top it off a white cape hanging from her extended spaulders.

Noticing some small wings which projected out on several spots on her armor, Clay couldn't help but feel impressed by this strange melancholic beauty. He somehow seem to recognize her from somewhere but can't quiet ring it.

Clay felt…. dumb, almost star struck, his palms were sweaty and he was unable to utter a single word, was he so captivated by her beauty, immense power and presence, all resonating from a single...person.

Breaking the silence Clay asked "What... in the world are you?" slowly raising his hand near his chin while bending his knees a bit, getting into a evasive stance.

The women spoke **"At ease…. human"**, on normal circumstances he wouldn't have complied, but this was different. Her presence seemed to calm him; there was an essence that surrounded her which made Clay feel comfortable… yet his human brain screamed of a different perspective, it felt like 2 poisons fighting over which can kill the host. Her **"poison"** won so he did as he was told.

His demeanor shifted to a more relaxed state. The woman spoke "**My name is Minerva, some people call me a goddess, but I am not… I am but a being created to serve the will of the Life stream and Gaia. You have…"**

Minerva was cut short by Clay "The life stream! What the hell is a life stream? and Gaia….what does Greek mythology have to do with this? These thing don't even exist in this universe" shooting back at Minerva with no hesitation.

Minerva didn't answer instead she asked "Then tell me…..which Universe are we in?" Opening his mouth to answer he thought for a moment but then decided to shut up. Clay replied "Fine…go ahead" while raising his hand in defeat. Minerva continued "**You are here because I have summoned you; the ground you stand on is called the Horizon"**

Minerva explained that the **"Horizon" **is a null field existing between the multi-universe a place created with no time, space, life or purpose but existing merely as a boundary between the rifts of universes

Clay had inquired further…"Ok I got that much, but what do you mean your champion? I mean what…." before he could continue his mind slowly flooded with memories, he remembered something.

Thinking hard he thought "This…can't be…no…is she THAT Minerva? Final fantasy it doesn't exist!" reminding himself of the game he played many years back after he recovered from his long coma. **(Coma..yes a coma, if you haven't read his profile yet...do it nao!)**

"No….no way man….you are Minerva the great summon?...you're shittin me right?" Clay stumbled back and landed on the ground not very convinced but still doubting himself, he was really sweating now "I'm either crazy or really high to be seeing Minerva" Clay mumbled to himself

*long pause*

*longer pause*

*a very long pause* and nothing happened

After a period of awkward silence Clay spoke "Yep, its real" Saying to himself and stood up giving his face a few slaps thinking_ "__**this is as real as it can get".**_

"Ok Minerva why have you summoned this lowly being" Clay spoke while remembering the ordeal a man name Zack faced as he fought Minerva.

He knew he was no match for her and…. and….this feeling is? Clay had never felt it in a long time, not since he fought the man from the Nadashinkage clan…fear. The situation went from normal to David versus Goliath, but it was never normal in the first place.

Minerva spoke **"Your father was a very strong man; he was supposed to take your place. In order to serve me, to be my champion, to undo the Ouroboros, and set Gaia free of its never ending torment"**. Clay was silent ….absorbing in the information

"So my old man died before you could summon him right?" Clay asked. **"Indeed"** she answered. He continued "And I am to be his replacement in order to save Gaia" Minerva answered again **"Yes"**

Then Clay asked "What I don't get is why do you need help in the first place? Correct me if I'm wrong but …..Sephiroth gets defeated and Gaia calls on the life stream to save the planet and all is sort of*stuttering*… I mean yeah sure I wish Zack and Aerith were alive, but I don't get what seems to be TORMENTING" crossing his arms he also added "Also how was this made into a game, and how do you exist?!" giving himself a long sigh, Clay ended his rant with "Why...why me?"

Minerva answered "**The planet Gaia and the life stream were never saved. Gaia was unable to stop the meteor even while using the life stream" Clay** was surprised, never expecting such an outcome, quiet curious now, he asked "Then…..what really happened?"

She said "Gaia used every last bit of the life stream to turn back the cycle of its very being, and so basically turning back time for the people of Gaia but history is bound to repeat. So Gaia made some changes, like giving life to a different person. To be born in a different family so he/she in the future could be a soldier for Gaia, to be a better use to Gaia than in their previous life, hoping that the final outcome would be different"

Digging further he asked "Then how did the "game" end with the life stream defending the planet?!" Minerva then explained that the cycle had repeated itself for 1 **millennium (1000 years)** hence the planet is going through **Ouroboros** and that after every cycle, she (Minerva) was asked to summon a champion from another universe in order to help change the cycle. So far every one of them had failed. Preventing them from returning to their respective universe and obviously….. Die, but not without sending a warning back in many different forms. Fragments of their memory sent to the universe of each champion in existence, creating such things such as folk stories, legends and myths that we hear about all the time.

Hoping someday mankind and other races would manage to spread the story through accumulated fragments passed on from previous champions into chosen people on the universe (appearing as an idea or imagination but is actually memories of other champions).

A Gamble, that if lucky would be able to warn the potential champions of their upcoming peril, of course this is not without flaw as most stories on earth get mixed with the imagination of the human brain and thus producing a "happy ending". She also pointed out that Clay would be the 1001st champion if he were to accept. With that Minerva mentioned her last point "There are multiple universe in this plane of existence Clay, only some are fortunate or…unfortunate enough to travel between them" Minerva proclaimed with a hint of sadness in her voice…but Clay doubt it.

"As for your last question" spoke Minerva, floating closer to Clay she continued her speech "Champions aren't chosen by me because they are strong, it's because i'm attracted to beings that can bring about change...an existence that has the ability to change history" shaking her head Minerva then said "My powers are limited to that only, i cannot sense other human beings on earth that has the same **fate ****distortion** factor as you, though i did sense many in the past"

"Well I suppose it makes sense" Admitted Clay who was now fairly convinced that he wasn't going crazy, but wasn't really buying the multi universe story…nor did he believe that he was capable of changing anything.

"So how do I…well…you know…. help Gaia" said Clay half heatedly, still doubting himself of such a surreal thing..._"multi-universe huh?" _Clay pondered to himself as he stared into the white abyss.

Minerva gave a faint smile and took a step forward or should I say floated…. slowly raising her hand to touch his forehead. Somewhat glad that Clay had accepted, she spoke "First….I will bestow upon you a gift, consider this my aid to help you on your quest…I am powerless to change the flow of faith, for I am bound to Gaia…but you are not, you are an outsider"

Lowering herself to face Clay she continued "An amplification of your choice! I can increase your current potential but not grant you a new power, from which you will use to help the dying planet, but…" she paused "but what?" responded Clay who was still surprised from Minerva touching his forehead "But are you willing to accept this? I have seen a thousand fallen, corrupted, and broken champions before you" warned Minerva.

Taking a deep breath Clay assessed himself, clearly this was no game. Looking back he never was a heroic person to say the least and he knew he never will be. Everything he did was on impulse, yes there were times he had done things which were plausible, but this…this is bigger, the scale of the scenario and responsibility was very…intimidating.

Never the less the opportunity was appealing; he finally had a chance to fight for a cause, for every punch, every kick till the last muscle fiber that he used to strugle there was a certain emptiness in his heart….pure hollow. Sure there was power behind it...physically, but for what? **"An attack with no true intent is a raging fire which cannot burn" **were his father's words.

Ever since he woke up from his coma Clay looked for answers to the reason why his father kept him in stasis, was it because of this? Did he know that his own son was destined to be the next champion? Surely he was conflicted but he had nothing to lose after all, flying his cargo plane, living of a boring life in Detroit and fighting other martial artist that thought they stood a chance against the son of **Infinite Fist** (his father's title) It was not getting him anywhere in the world, sure he did consider MMA but he didn't like the media.

Half convinced but determined, Clay returned the smile and said "I'm in" she nodded and said "Concentrate and think of the aspect you wish to expand, remember you cannot create something you don't have!" and with a sudden jolt of what seems like lightning from her fingers, a glowing emblem appeared on Clay's fore head, Minerva then left him to think.

Clay pondered for quite a while, what would he want, and what power he would need to become strong, was it speed, muscles…no….none of those.

His mind was anchored to a single idea, and after confirming it in his head, the emblem glowed, red in color.

Clay stood still with eyes wide open and blood red, sweat poured from every pore of his body. His body felt like it was burning, his breath was so hot it scorched his own throat, feeling a certain form of energy coursing through his body, like a flood gate was opened.

Even with no shirt on his body was burning, his veins seemed to almost explode from his body. Clay held back the urge to scream from the pain, gritting his teeth his bones and muscles seemed to be flowing with a new life force that he craved for a long time, his pressure points were released.

After Clenching his fist and teeth tightly for what seems an eternity, the pain slowly subdued. A Large amount of steam was vaporizing from his body following with the tribal looking emblem slowly fading away but not completely.

Minerva spoke after witnessing the strange phenomenon even for herself "Strange…for someone to wish for excruciating pain to be bestowed upon them" The summon continued "Is this what you truly want Clay? Most champions ask for increased speed, stamina or heightened reflexes" With a chuckle Clay answered "Pain is just a little price to pay in martial arts" the Great summon didn't seem to understand "Then what was it that you wished for?" she asked.

Clay explained about acupuncture mentioning the **"Ren", **often called the sea of Ying. It's located on the front of the body, where there are many acupoints. It's an important part that must be unlocked in order to achieve martial arts greatness. After the **Ren,** the back also has acupoints called **"Jiu" **called sea of Yang holding the eight divine areas of martial artist. Not everyone knew of the technique to unlock it, for it was long lost…..

The amount of Ki surging through his body was immense and would require great effort to control, though he wasn't sure how, but he knew that his father was the one who was supposed unlock his acupuncture. His knowledge in the field was not great….but unlocking this hidden potential would mean he would be able to reach a new tier of dominance.

With that done, Minerva explained that in 24 earth hours she will re-summon him to the Horizon to be transported to Gaia, satisfied and ready Minerva sent him back. Waking up on the couch Clay quickly got up and ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror just when the glowing tribal emblem was slowly fading away.

Chapter END!


	2. Chapter 2 With many waxes

**OK i hit a writers block here so this chapter is realy really bad...it felt forced.**

**Disclaimer! Once again I DON'T OWN FINAL FANTASY 7 IT RIGHTLY BELONGS TO SQUARE ENIX**

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**Bold are for techniques/spell/limit break/important real life stuff/etc**

_Italics are for thoughts_

_**Bold and italics are for voices (lol)**_

_**Also the images to his gauntlets are on my profile if that doesn't work then...all i can say is that it's the gauntlet from the male fighter (Disgaea)**_

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**Chapter 2: With many waxes **

**2012 12th May 1:30 pm**

Though Clay's encounter with Minerva took quite some time, to his surprise he had woken up at the exact time when he had slept. "A place with no time eh?" mumbled Clay with a chuckle as he gave the **Horizon** a quick thought among other hundred of things that went through his mind; he wasn't sure how to handle this "revelation" of his, so he decided to look into his other concerning matters… his father's books.

Making quick work of lunch, a simple sunny side up with some rice "We meet again old friend" Clay said with a chuckle to the steaming rice as he sat on a kitchen stool, he had a hunch that he was the only person in the entire neighborhood that ate rice… well that aside, Clay ate while quickly flipping through an old record book he picked up on his way in, taking a look at the sketches which were accompanied by descriptions of the human body illustrating many techniques, breathing control, muscles movement and even diet but most importantly … the Ki section.

5 years ago Clay was unable to achieve anything from this section due to the fact that he had no idea how to harness or create Ki which would normally be obtained by processes of purification; as a child his father mentioned to him about opening his acupoints, but only when he was old enough and ready to learn about the other side of martial arts, although a small one it was pricey, with each technique that requires a tremendous amount of Ki control and practice. The Eurasian man knew that he was no genius like his old man and nor had he the experience the world offered, but he desperately needed power.

Logically in Clay's mind he thought that going up against robots, magic, mutated animals and monsters isn't going to be a walk in the park and clearly time was not in his favor, but now that he had opened the gates of Ki, skipping the complications and training through the night was his only option. Glancing at his wrist watch he got up and headed straight to the basement_, "6 hours before midnight…yeah it's enough"_ Clay thought, enough for him to get familiar with some easier techniques and hopefully some rest later, tomorrow is going to be a long day and he needed to gather some items for his journey on Gaia.

***Time skip***

**2012 13th May 8:30am (the next morning)**

Morning came like a bitch slap to the face as the sunlight pierced through the curtain of Clay's bedroom, shifting his head away from the sunlight Clay groaned "Well fuck me side wa….." he paused while suddenly remembering the event that had taken place yesterday. With a sigh the "champion" proceeded with his daily morning routine, which ended with a breakfast after a quick morning exercise.

While Clay was getting ready to head out he made a mental note of the errands he needed to run. First stop, the metal workshop where his friend works, next up was the antique shop, and after that he needed a new set of clothes. _"Can't be looking like a idiot in another universe"_ thought Clay as he got on his **kawasaki ZX6R, **it had taken him a year to save up for the bike and today was probably the last day that he would use her…if he died that is, but he had no intention of leaving Eva forever**.**

Clay started the engine and felt his lower body ache as last night's heavy training started to take its toll, "arggh….no pain no ga…..oh fuck it, It hurts like hell" Clay mumbled as he stowed the bike stand and drove out. Still lost in thought he realized that the goal is somewhat too surreal, after giving it some more thinking made it seem even more impossible and surely the numbers weren't convincing either, after all "only" a thousand champions had fallen to this "quest" what's one more? Is he just another knight that would eventually fail his "noble mission" Dismissing the idea and disembarking his Motorcycle Clay stood in front of an industrial warehouse with sounds of metal being cut which wasn't rare to this part of town, it was like a scene from the show **"Patent bending"**.

With no intention of wasting time, Clay proceeded into the ware house and did what he came for and got out immediately, taking roughly 10 minutes only. Now his watch says that he got approximately 3 hours before his next meeting with the grand summon, not that he was looking forward to see her….he just felt strange during their first encounter, she could instill fear in his heart as well as another lingering emotion which he can't seem to come to terms with. Thinking about it was not getting him anywhere, so Clay concentrated on more pressing matters and dismissed the thought.

***time Skip***

**12:30pm (half an hour left) **

Stowing his bike Clay noticed the cardboard box on his porch, he immediately opened it to find 2 objects wrapped in newspaper which he shoved into his backpack and proceeded to do a final checkup of his preparation. While taking another round of his house, Clay adjusted his black trench coat and took a good look at himself in the mirror; it looked like he came from the matrix except for the red shirt he wore beneath his long unbuttoned trench coat accompanied by a strange combination of a modern black taekwondo pants. Checking his watch again it was 5 minutes to 1, "it's almost time….I'm not nervous, no, of course not…." he said to himself, Clay did a good job hiding his anxiety the entire day from the public, earlier he was lost in thought while at the cash counter as the clerk kept asking him to pay, but curiosity can get the better of anyone, especially if it involved a planetary genocide which a thousand other people failed to stop … "Yep not a problem, totally normal and sane that I'm doing this …." he thought with a sigh.

Clay sat down to calm himself but still deep in thought, a sound echoed through the living sending Clay right up, straight, hands by his side and with his fist clenched….but after a brief moment he realized it was his LAN line ringing "Damn it!" cursed Clay as he answered the phone. The person on the line was a woman, she asked for a package delivery to Hawaii, which Clay answered immediately that his business was closed indefinitely and when the woman asked for the reason, Clay didn't answer not because he didn't know why; it was because he wasn't there anymore, the suspended cordless phone hit the ground and still the woman was on the line "Hello Mr. Clay …Mr. Clay are you there ….Hellooo?".

Clearly no movement or emotions where showed by Clay, his brain was screamed "WHAT THE FUCK" The **Horizon** appeared before him in a blink of an eye, one moment he was holding a phone and the next he was in the middle of nowhere, still holding his right hand to his ear Clay quickly checked his items, bag check, watch check, cloths double check...wew. Clearing his throat, he felt a familiar presence behind him, turning around to witness yet another magnificent summon of the beautiful Minerva… "Wait did I just think that Minerva was beautiful?" Clay thought while shaking his head followed by a face palm. Focusing on her, he greeted Minerva with a crocked smile and a small wave like a young boy on his first date.

Snapping out of a trance he said "So this is it, I'm really going to Gaia", "Are you not ready?" Minerva replied as she approached Clay, "No…no..Just nervous" admitted Clay whose body stiffened due to her approach. "I will take you to Midgar, from there you will be on your own, do everything you can in your power to save Gaia…and good luck" Minerva explained as she raised her hands to touch him, there was a change in Clay's demeanor as looked into her eyes and asked "Do you say that to all the champions, all 1000 of them?" there was brief pause as they exchanged looks, Minerva answered "Champions come and go, and true that in the end some die for our sake, some fight for power, greed, pride or personal glory, each champions have their own wills, goals, and differences and not all of them were….good". Raising an eyebrow "what do you mean not all of them were good?" Clay asked

Minerva explained that being a champions does not necessary imply that he is pure at heart, some champions are tainted due to the potentials she had given them, few had succumbed into madness for having a weak thinking that death was the only path for them, and worst of all the champions that had turned evil on their own accord destroying Gaia instead of saving it, she further explained that prolonged stay in Gaia will start to have certain influences on champions, such as decision making… example:- some champions may not care for the loss of other people's lives because it's hard enough to simply stay alive.

"What if death is the only path? And can't you just choose a good person on earth?" Clay countered, "Death is never an option only those who are foolish enough to make it one will surely have it, and no Gaia had asked me is to bring **capable **champions that are able to bring** change** to the world…not heroes, true that it's a gamble but the planet doesn't have much choice and my powers are limited, being able to see only certain humans with power not honor, people that have traits to be a champion but not a SOLDIER, meaning I cannot have know the champion's personalities and mind, they are limited to only in Gaia"

"_Fair enough" _Clay thought with a sigh, he said "Alright let's do this!", seeing that Clay was ready Minerva placed her hand on his head and said "I'll trust you…. no matter who you are and what your goal is…. Please…..please save Gaia", Clay could have sworn he saw a tear in her eye but before he could say another word his body burst into green energy…like a life stream.

**Midgar lower plate sector 5 approximately 3:30 pm**

Falling from the sky to an impending death wasn't a cool way to die in Clay's book, appearing 50 meters above sector 5's slums he whizzed through the air as he fell while noticing the church below him with a hole on the roof he screamed "That crazy bitch!, I don't want to fucking die in a chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurch…..!". Bracing himself for impact he caught a glimpse of his grave, there were flowers… _"Weird, why flowers?"_ but with no time to think Clay's body impacted the flower bed with a hard THUD! Though he shielded his head from ground his knees, arms and torso wasn't very fortunate, the ground was soft but his velocity was too much, definetly one or two of his organs is ruptured and suffering severe trauma, he felt his nose and mouth bleed and his left elbow was fractured.

"_Great.. so this is how it's going to end?…Name:- Jack Clayton…. Total Champion time: - 20 seconds …. Cause of Death: - Unconventional suicide aka falling to death" _Clay thought as he panted away what he assumed was his final breath, "**Healing Wave!" **shouted a woman, her voice echoed in Clay's head for a moment, he felt a gentle breeze which washed away the immense pain sweeping through his body but his eyes saw nothing but darkness that slowly stole his vision, his heart had stopped as the final pulse of green energy swept through his motionless body.

**A few seconds later**

*COUGH!* *COOOOOUGH!* *GASPING FOR AIR* with eyes wide open, Clay's chest rose from the ground like he was given a shock from a defibrillator, he panted several times followed with a spit of blood and more coughs. "I'm…*pant*…alive?" Clay mustered out the words with almost no energy behind it, while regaining control over his hand's motor functions Clay tried to sit up straight expecting to feel an excruciating amount of pain but to his surprise he felt none.

Confused yet grateful that he was still alive, Clay wiped the blood off his face with his coat's sleeves and only then, did he notice the silhouette in front of him, it approached slowly into the sunlight covering the flowers and without doubt Clay recognized the person to be **Aerith Gainsborough **the flower seller in the slums and the last Cetra ….so far. "I assumed you were responsible for that thing with the magic…and me being alive?" Clay asked with a crocked smile on his face, "I'll tell you if you get off the flowers" replied Aerith who was giggling; remembering how much she liked those flowers Clay steadied himself in a hurry while trying not to crush anything as he stood up and hopped out of the "no entry zone" of the church. "Uhh..Sorry about the flowers" apologized Clay as he noticed the outline of his body on the flower bed.

Taking a step towards Clay she answered "Yes I'm the one who healed you, and it's alright I have plenty of flowers to sell but do be careful", not forgetting his manners Clay expressed his thanks but to his surprise she didn't accept it, Aerith demanded "No, please don't thank me! Someone told me you fell from the sky and needed help so I was just here on request" while waving both her hands motioning a NO, she continued "now that I answered you question It's my turn to ask…what were you doing falling from the sky like that? I have a friend who did the same thing! Is it a new trend in Midgar or something… falling from the sky like that?" The question caught him in the neck, Clay never really thought about a reason to tell anyone why he was here or what his work or home town was, so in the heat of the moment he answered "I'm a..a….I mean..I..ahhhh….work fooo….(thinking of an occupation)…oor any company that needs package deliveries and…..stuff…..yeah I'm a delivery man… yep that's right I work for a delivery company".

Clay hoped that it convinced Aerith that he was not some stranger from another universe she replied "So that means that you travel allot right?" with no other option he replied "yeah, all the time in fact I was delivering a package to a client in Midgar when I fell into a manhole". Clay wasn't very concerned about his alibi, what bothered him was who Aerith had referred to, after all nobody was supposed to know that he was here…. _"could it be ...Minerva?, she does have a connection to the life stream and Aerith" _pondering the thought of Minerva correcting her mistakes was somewhat amusing. "Look I wish I could repay you somehow but I'm in a hurry right now" insisted Clay as he proceeded to leave the church, "Wait!" Aerith shouted which made Clay stop in his tracks "There is something I want you to do", turning around with a grin Clay said "I suppose you want me to deliver something for you….. free of charge?"

"Yes…he's a friend of mine, though I would use the mailing system but he never replied, my guess is it never reached him so I suppose you could do it for me" explained Aerith while handing Clay a letter that swept him with nostalgia, taking the letter in his hand Clay lied "What is the name of the receiver, I can look it up in the master computer to see his current whereabouts", he already knew who she was talking about and where he was and he also knew how important it was for him to hurry the FUCK out of here. Realizing that this letter is the last letter that Aerith was supposed to send to Zack means that in a few days the Shinra Company will be soon dispatch an army to kill Zack, saving him might increase the chance of saving Gaia….and himself.

"His name is Zack….Zack Fair, he works for Shinra" Aerith said while handing Clay a small flower, "here a gift" she said. Wasting enough time already he left the church saying goodbye to Aerith, Clay haven't realized the exact timeline on Gaia until Aerith handed him the **final letter** so calculating the time needed for a letter to travel from Midgar to **Banora **through an Angeal copy was about a day and a half away, also if the time taken for Zack to reach the out skirts of Midgar was about 4 days out…give or take he had roughly 5 days to formulate a plan to save Zackfrom his ultimate demise.

A few moment later Clay found himself in sector 7 recognizing it due to a huge broken TV screen, having no idea how he got there Clay assumed that he was too lost in thought to pay attention, while hoping he could improvise with the knowledge from the fallen champions (the game) Clay proceeded to look for the **7th heaven** bar/restaurant. It didn't take long to find the "establishment" as sector 7 slums wasn't very large, thinking that he could look for Tifa in the bar or possibly someone from AVALANCHE who he might be able to get help from, also Clay came to a conclusion that his identity should be kept hidden because of the fact that he was the planets supposed "savior" he didn't want people to depend on him when he can barely stay alive himself.

Taking a step towards the bar, Clay caught his own reflection on a broken piece of mirror next to some junk common to the sector 7 slums, realizing that his backpack made him look odd so ditching it was his only option thus he proceeded to stow the contents in his pockets, first there were 20 mini adrenaline shot needles which are rolled in an air tight bag that Clay usually carry even on earth but lesser, he stowed them in a side holder inside his trench coat, next was his dad's record book which he brought for obvious reasons, and the most important item….the iron gauntlet custom made by his friend. It was a make shift gauntlet due to the fact that it can transform into an armguard when the iron slab covering the knuckles are moved to the forearm by a hinge created for that sole purpose, it was made out of Titanium, though it wasn't the strongest metal, it is however strongest in terms of strength to weight ratio which was perfect for the job, it's design was simple; a leather glove acts as a cushion with some extra layers on the knuckles with the two iron slab having three small dimples to leave an impressing on the unlucky soul that it hits.

As Clay entered the bar he wore "it" and turned it into an arm guard hiding it under his trench coats sleeves while only the exposed gloves can be seen and also making a mental note to give "it" a name later, after that he headed straight to the corner of the bar and found himself a place to sit, the bar smelled of different liquors which he didn't intend to go near. It was almost sundown by the time Clay entered the bar as he noticed that customers were slowly rolling in, the numbers weren't great but it kept the place lively enough to be called a bar. Observing his environment was interesting to say the least, Clay overheard conversations about Shinra guards around the sector 7, someone was talking about their daughter but his thoughts were interrupted by a question "Would you like to order anything mister?", it belonged to woman who Clay assumed to be the bartender. She was in her 20s with a GINORMOUS rack which made it difficult for Clay to look at her in the eyes, they exchange smiles followed by a reply from Clay which… never made it out of his mouth as memories flooded him.

The bartender was **Tifa Lockheart, **he knew it was Tifa because never in his life had he seen a woman in that outfit except…for her, she had long blackish brown hair and wore a miniskirt and a white tank top? She asked again "Soooo….are you going to order?", catching him off guard and still dazed from the distraction he stammered "oh..ahhh.. .nonono...I don't ….. drink". Oddly Clay hasn't noticed her when he entered the bar, but he made use of the opportunity and replied "But I am looking for a job though…. are you guys hiring? I'm good at cooking, cleaning and anything related to that", to his disappointment she declined "sorry, we aren't looking for any". _"well that was fast…" _thought Clay as he got up to leave, he thanked Tifa and proceeded to the bar's door, joining AVALANCHE was not a simple high school enrolment, clearly he had to think of something better…coming to a sudden stop in front of the door Clay turned back to the bar counter and said "Hey do you guys have strawberry sundaes?" the question caught the attention of many customers and also generated some laughs, Tifa answered "Sure we do….it's our special desert…nobody orders it though, why… did you have a change of minds?", more than pleased with the reply Clay requested 1 strawberry sundae and took a seat on the bar stool of the counter.

"What do we have here...Strawberry sundaes? What the fuck do you think are you doing here kid! Learn to drink like a man you little bitch!" shouted a man who definitely had one too many drinks, turning around on the stool Clay spotted a man in his late 30s with a heavy build on the seat behind him, the thought of what he was about to do next made Clay grin and said "What?...was your mommy too poor to buy you strawberry sundaes.. oh was she also fat cuz I assume that's where it all went..!" mocked Clay who was definitely good at this, after all extensive years of street fighting had thought him that if you can't break a man's body then break his spirit and now it had become more of a habit. The man was clearly agitated now and stood up, but Clay just observed as the alcohol clouded his mind and judgment while affecting his motor functions making him stumble a bit, his eyes were red due to expansion of the blood vessels from the alcohol also suggesting weakened eye muscle coordination.

The man was like a rabies infected bear ready to inflict as much pain onto Clay….but the champion just sat there waiting for his sundae while eying the drunk with no interest to provoke him further, which in fact worked faster than Clay thought it would, the Drunk grabbed a glass bottle from the table and threw it at Clay who caught it, spun it between his finger and gently placed it down on the counter; and said "sorry…...I don't drink" while holding out his middle finger. Blinded by rage the drunken man charged, his mouth drooling, tears in his eyes and face red as a tomato the poor fellow fell victim to a **"Shienkyaku!"** think of it as an uppercut….but with your foot, intended to only disable however a strange spark lit up when the impact occurred, within the next second Clay's shoes was engulfed in flames, luckily the fire hadn't caught on to the man fast enough and died off instantly after the hit, Clay was confused yet amazed at himself so he decided to…..sit and think about what just happened, meanwhile a couple of people who Clay assumed were the man's accomplice dragged the drunken man out of the bar.

"Here's your sundae" Tifa said, and placed a simple strawberry ice cream with lots of topping Clay didn't recognize, she continued "Did you really have to kick him in the face?...he's one of our frequent customers…until just now", any obvious person would have felt guilty but Clay told himself it had to be done in order to…..Tifa once again interrupted his thoughts and said "You seem to handle yourself pretty well there mister..?", still grinning he mentally celebrated_"She caught the bait, I knew they were looking for people who can fight!" _and without missing a beat he answered "Name's Jack Clayton…call me Clay" with a wink.

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**CHAPTAA ENDAAAA! **

**Reviews are cheese burgers!**


	3. Chapter 3 Giant killing

**No time. No inspiration. No service...damn so many reasons why this chapter is late...not even sorry hehe**

**and damn were my first 2 chapters clunky in terms of narration (even grammar), I you will find this one much better now that i had some time off.**

**Disclaimer!**

**I don't own final fantasy 7, the right to final fantasy 7 it belongs to Square Enix…in fact they own the whole….thinga-majig**

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**Side note…some people who saw my profile may think that my OC :- "Clay" directly inherited all of his dad's knowledge in martial arts, this is in fact wrong as I mentioned that he was "thought to fight" this means that Clay may in fact know more styles (but is less proficient) than his father.**

**Mind you! Since Crisis core, last order and even FF7 had not mentioned much (less) about Shinra's soldier, discipline, ranks and behavior I will try my best to recreate Shinra's army (similar to an normal army) but will stick to the game as much as possible**

**Changes has been made to the previous chapter's errors (time am pm…screw this shit I use 24 hour) and profile has been updated**

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**Bold are …..Important stuff/techniques/limit breaks/ spells/ ice cream sandwiches and Cakes**

_Italics are thoughts/voices/Whispers/Sean Connery narrating/ Morgan freeman speaking _

_Company = consist of many platoons_

_Platoon = around 7-10 men_

_lol_

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**Chapter 3: Giant killing**

**The 7****th**** Heaven**

Tifa couldn't help but smile as she watched Clay "devoured" every last bit of the ice cream she made, "Clay huh?...well you're definitely a new face around here, mind telling me where you're from?" she said with interest.

Clay expected her to ask him that sooner or later, so he lied "I'm from the Wutai area…and what's your name miss…?", Tifa realized that she had forgotten to introduce herself, responded immediately "oh sorry….uhh my name is Tifa…Tifa Lockheart. I'm from **Nibelheim**" she continued "Wutai eh?…you're a long way from home aren't you?"

Clay thought for a moment "_long way from home? Now that's an understatement!" _he played along and said "sure…..but I don't really miss it if that's what you're asking, I left before the Wutai war even started anyway".

Feeling that he should change the subject Clay asked "So…you sure you don't have a job for me? I'm just looking for some quick cash, that sort of thing" trying his best not to sound or look suspicious, his mind raced as he thought _"please say yes!"._

Taking her timeTifa thought for a moment, could she trust him? He could be another spy from Shinra looking to take down AVALANCHE, though there was evidence that pointed out that he wasn't with Shinra, his clothes were similar to the Wutai region, although a bit altered.. especially the pants. Moreover Wutai hates Shinra…well most of them still do, she assumed that he also knew some sort of martial arts like many of the Wutai people…but it could be another disguise from Shinra, Tifa was still looking for a way to uncover his true motives and trying to bait him out, so she asked "I can get you a job that has a decent pay…. if you can stay alive that is"

The statement clearly suggested the bombing of the Mako reactors to Clay, but he didn't realize the trap and answered "I'm good at delivering stuff, getting in and out fast if that's what you're wondering", it was a big mistake….. He got straight to the point of her mission, raising an eyebrow Tifa said "Are you now? I can give you the job if you want it"

He felt something in her voice and he said "I sense a **but** in your proposal". She gave him a smile…. followed by a swift strike with a switch blade aimed at his neck. While Clay hadn't let his guard down since the drunken man left the bar, she made the primitive strike so he was unable to block with his arm guard. Instead catching her wrist right before it could cut his jugular was his only choice of action. Holding the knife almost a hair's breathe away, Clay felt the small blade touch the skin of his neck and blood slowly seeping out. "If you're a spy then Shinra sure is getting rusty!" Tifa whispered trying not to gain attention of the customers. _"holy shit, she's going to kill me" _thought Clay as he held the knife from his neck. He quickly replied to avoid a bloody death "look!...I don't know what you're talking about and I'm not a spy, Damn it! I'm trying to help you!". still not convinced she pressed the blade harder and said "So prove it! If you're not Shinra then tell me something I don't know!" The situation escalated quickly so he had no choice but to tell her the truth….some of it, "Info huh!? Is that what you fucking want! FINE let go of the blade and I'll tell you something"

Tifa was agitated but she pulled back the blade only to attempt to stab Clay again but this time he was ready, using his right hand to perform a **"Shiraha Nagashi" (A.N a karate punch that can counter sword or blade attacks by twisting the fist)** on the blade, he struck Tifa's shoulder after his hand deflected the thrust, which made her drop her weapon, he pushed her body forward with his forearm, using the metal arm guard and launching himself over the bar counter.

Clay laid on top of Tifa holding down both her arms, their eyes met, close…too close. He could only wish that they could be in this position…under better circumstances. Cutting his train of thoughts, he decided to return the favor for the little surprise she had for his neck. Now with his forearm pressed up against Tifa's neck she swore "you asshole, you ARE from Shinra!". With annoyance Clay answered "NO! I am not from Shinra! Look, if you want to kill me, go ahead but right now if you want your friend **'Cloud' **to live, you have to listen to me or he's dead!".

The name clearly struck a nerve but she was in no "position" to bargain with him… (A.N pun intended). "What do you want! Just get it over with!" she growled. Feeling more in control Clay relaxed a bit and stated "I'm going to let go now alright? You don't kill me and I don't have to hit beautiful lady tonight". Slowly standing up he eyed her every movement and was also quite surprised that none of the customers had noticed their little "incident". As she got up and their eyes met again, the silence between them lasted only a moment as they exchanged looks. Tifa turned away when a customer called for seconds, but she quickly declined and announced that the bar is closing early today.

**Later that day (after a lot of drunken people falling down the stairs) **

After making sure that the bar was closed off Tifa was now alone with Clay. She entertained the thought of fighting him here and now but she couldn't risk it, the man came to her bearing something she needed to know, obviously he must have a plan and backup, so she decided to play his little game.

Clay was dumbfounded he never thought of this situation…as him being the one in control, he had no real plan or backup and yet she did as she was told when she heard that her friend's life was threatened. Clay realized that Cloud must've meant a lot to her than he had realized. He had to rely on his manipulative speech skills (which he doesn't use very often)….he also wondered if this was another effect of the **uroborus**, first it was Tifa using a small blade, surely he remembered her to be a brawler or maybe she still is, but this time a little different …and then there was her voice when he mentioned Cloud, it didn't sound like she was just worried about him, clearly she knew (or thought) that he is a SOLDIER operative and can take care of himself but her reaction told a different story, she didn't just care for him, it was like she was desperate… very desperate…..

Clay dismissed the thought and proceeded with what Tifa would call "His little game". Being the one to speak first of the two Clay revealed "Cloud's not really in danger, he's not going to die….." Instantly the look in Tifa's eyes showed relief but then there was anger as she yelled back "then why go through all that!?...why did you come to me, telling me he was in danger!" a smile grew on his face as Clay answered "he's not going to die **yet**"

There was a brief moment as the words sank in. Now she was pissed as hell. Clenching her fist tightly and there were unshed tears in her eyes as she raised her fist. But then, raising his finger Clay said "And!... I'm the only one that can save him" with a blunt expression to hide his lie. Stopping in her tracks she answered "you bastard what are you getting at?" taking a step towards her Clay said "Like I told you, he be dead if I don't help him". Confused and annoyed she replied "so that's it? You're his little guardian angel …if you're the only one who can help him then why don't you do it?! and how do I know if you're telling the truth!?". With a sigh Clay looked straight in her eyes as he prepared to say the worst line to ever to be spoken in an heated argument… "I need a car"

"A car?" Tifa repeated. Clay confirmed "yes, a car". She repeated again "A car?" Expecting her surprised response, Clay replied "yes it's this thing with an engine and 4 wheels that go quiet fast and it needs a driver?". Still surprised by what he said she asked "Why me then? Can't you just rent or even just steal one!" she yelled at him. He saw it coming, but Clay had already told her about Cloud thus even more question would arise about how he knew about it, so he lied again "3 things…first I don't have any money, second I'm not a thief, and third I'm just a delivery man".

Clay said with a shrug and Tifa answered without missing a beat "Then how did…" Clay cut her off "I'm a very hard working person you know?". With a confused look Tifa asked "what are you trying to say?". Clay put on his best stern and saddened face he could muster and replied "then all that I had was taken away". He looked at her dead in the eyes "my fortune, my job and my life…." He paused to look away, then shouted "All because I saw Shinra's dirty secret!?…". Tifa surprised by his sudden outburst, asked "who..who took what? And what are you talking about?".

Clay mentally smiled and decided to add a little bit more to his play, he started breath heavily and made his voice shaky and said "I work for many companies, Shinra mainly…..no shit, they hire third party people to help with their ever growing territory, small time third party companies like me"

Almost forgetting what happened earlier Tifa inquired more "what happened?" it was a hook line and sinker. Clay hoped that she would believe his story so he continued his spree of lies "One day I delivered an ordnance package and yes I deliver ordnance supply from time to time, but that particular day I got lost inside the Shinra HQ and decided to ask someone for directions, I went into a room that said on the door…and all I saw were big green tubes with animals inside…next thing I knew, Shinra accused me for being a terrorist and a thief, stripped me of my pilot license took my plane and fined me for 100,000 gil!".

Tifa listened with content. She saw the sadness in his eyes, and having lose everything is tragic indeed… after all she knew the feeling better than anyone, but then she asked "Then how did you know about Cloud". Clay let himself smile a bit and replied "I wasn't going to leave empty handed from the bloody place. I was already inside Shinra, and that was probably the closest that I could ever get, so I took my chances alright!?". In the end Clay still had to make up a story of how he knew them. He paused to give Tifa another look and also to make sure she wasn't about to attempt to kill him again, he continued "The files…the files on the SOLDIER program I saw it…, I snuck into the Turk's office the day I got screwed, some guy name Tseng was probably on his lunch break I searched his desk and found it, clearly there was a KIA stamp on Cloud's name, but when I saw the confidential, it said he was alive and is currently a fugitive".

Clay's uncertainty was killing him. He only saw "Last order" once so his memory of it were foggy, and Tifa's relieved yet worried expression made it all more complicated, but to Clay's mercy she bought his story, but there was still one question left unanswered, a brief moment later as she sat down on the bar stool and asked "why…and how?...i mean….of all the things, I don't even know you Clay! and yet you come in here telling me all this…". She swallowed hard, holding back tears that would soon escape her eyes "how….how did you know Cloud was my friend?". For a moment Clay thought it through, memories of Nibelheim rushed through his brain and mentioning the "incident" was no simple matter. He had to somehow insert himself into that time line, and then the idea hit him. Clay broke the short moment of silence as he said "few years ago…. when I first started my cargo business, I kept track of people I helped…the people that needed supplies or medicine from the city hospital you know...it helped me feel like…Ughh! This is embarrassing….. I…I mean I felt like I was doing something good for the world!"

As the words left his mouth he realized that those were the only words that were true…. among the sea of lies he unleashed. He wasn't proud of it but the situation called. Tifa was looking at Clay when he realized that he hadn't finished explaining yet, so he continued while avoiding her gaze "The Mako reactor in , Shinra Manor and….. Nibelheim, you were injured and Zangan…" he was about to finish the sentence but stopped as he heard Tifa's low sob.

Clay could clearly see her deep sadness. She managed to say "you….you brought me to Midgar?". The question weighed more guilt onto Clay. He didn't want to make her cry, but what can he say? So he answered "Yeah your teacher uh…what's his name.. Zangan right? He asked if I could give you a lift and *sigh*…that's how I knew you and Cloud…Zangan told me all about both of you". Clay felt that he should let her calm down for a while before adding "a foolish thought isn't it…remembering the people that you think you aided, it only did me worst for my ego and naivety, only a fool could be a hero in this world" the sentence echoed in his head. Tifa gathered herself to ask one final question "you still didn't tell me your reason for helping..". Clay was actually glad she asked that question and replied "remember when I said Cloud was a fugitive?". Tifa thought for a moment and said "Yeah...what about it?" Clay answered "He's not the only one".

Night was soon upon them. The badly lit street lights in the distance were the only things Clay could see outside the window from the room Tifa lent him. He hoped that the moon could drive away some of the darkness…he then slapped himself as he remember the slate above the slums was obviously blocking it, then again was there any moon? What is the population of Gaia? Do they have fossil fuel or only Mako? Is there any element not present on earth? Clay realized the extent of his knowledge was confined to only that which the game had told him.…but here and now this is real, no games…he almost died today too, and he didn't know jack shit about his planet. Then the feeling hit him…he felt lonely, even though he realized that he had no friends to begin with anyway, and he wasn't corny enough to go around asking "Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, I'm from another universe, be my friend maybe?" he never really wanted to create bonds in the first place...not if he's going to break them again. It also bothered Clay that he felt like he was just another pawn in this story, he even went as far as imagining his own death to one of the many monsters on this planet. Clay let his mind wander aimlessly as he lay on the couch and before long; tiredness slowly swept him away to sleep.

Next friggin day…(damn that was a long day)

Clay woke up on the cramped up couch he slept on. To what exactly? No not his extremely stiff neck that feels almost petrified and definitely not the sound of people opening their shops outside or that low growl he heard from time to time…. "oh man" Clay grumbled as he realized that it was his stomach that was growling. Not so surprising since he had nothing but ice cream yesterday. Picking up his folded trench coat along with his light weight Titanium gauntlet/armguard, he headed downstairs; he assumed that the room he stayed was Cloud's living quarters….if he was here. The bar was still closed and probably won't open until late evening, Clay proceeded to head out when a voice called him, "where do you think you're going?" .

He stopped and turned to Tifa who was behind the bar counter and answered plainly "Breakfast…what else?". He lifted his hand to the door knob when Tifa called him again this time almost like she was angry "well don't…". Clay lifted an eyebrow and replied "well I can't go against Shinra on an empty stomach you…". she cut him off "I made breakfast". He stood still for a moment then smiled as he looked at her and said "ok…?". She returned his gaze and said "what's wrong?". Clay chuckled and replied "well for starters you just tried to kill me yesterday….how do I know the food isn't poisoned?". She gave him a sarcastic smile and said "well you haven't told me where Cloud is yet, so poisoning you would be a bad idea". Her reply made cloud laugh, the first laugh he had since he came here _"right ….I forgot about that!"_ he thought and sat down. They ate in silence, nothing that fancy, just a homemade pizza along with some sweet roll that Clay hoped wasn't stolen from someone. After washing down the meal with some orange juice Clay studied Tifa carefully but this time not as an enemy… but as a person….a very pretty 'person'. She seemed nice in her own way, probably very protective too (from what he knew in the story).

She caught him staring, however Tifa didn't do anything, and pretended like she didn't notice. Clay broke the silence as he announced "Alright then!….before I can tell you anything, I need to know this, ..you have to trust me and I will do the same for you". Clay gave her a look before continuing "I need your help as much as you need mine, I understand the reason you attacked me yesterday and I hold no grudge against it". He gave a sigh before saying "can I trust you until this is over?". There was a short silence before Tifa rolled her eyes. Looking annoyed she groaned and left the bar, leaving Clay as he ran behind saying "HEY! It took me a long time to muster up the courage to say such a cliché speech and you just walk off?" .

She stopped, looked at him and said "you got that ride if you want it, but this doesn't mean we're all friendly and crap alright? If you want to make this alliance then fine, BUT I got my eyes on you!" and she walked off leaving him behind. Once again Clay sighed as he thought how tough it was to gain her trust, but now she finally did…a bit. Clay said to himself "Hey….. Maybe she was speechless when she heard me say that" and he followed her down the road, but in the shadows that Clay couldn't see, Tifa was smiling.

They arrived shortly to the outskirt of the slums but still under the plate of Midgar. It was an open space with nothing but small dunes of scrap metals here and there, and no car in sight. Puzzled Clay asked Tifa "where's the car?" she grinned and said "you're looking at it" suddenly the biggest metal dune in front of Clay started shaking, and slowly a pick-up truck emerged from the amalgamations of metal. As the last pieces of junk fell off he realized that it wasn't so bad. It looked sturdy enough…. maybe even take some heavy fire… Clay decided that it was time to tell her Cloud's location…or at least where he will be.

Getting in the care he said "Alright so here's the scenario…Cloud was last seen in Banora, and from what I heard it's in ruins, the last report says that he's moving northward, correct me if I'm wrong but Banora is in the continent of Mideel right?" Tifa nodded. He continued "Shinra is on his tail, he's moving but for how long I can't say. So my plan is to intercept them before they reach Midgar, and hopefully before the main cavalry arrives" Tifa thought about it for a moment and asked "where do you think we can find him? He can be anywhere between Midgar and Mideel".

Clay knew she had a point, but based off his knowledge the cliff where the buster sword marked Zack's death was somewhere south-east of Midgar, because there was no way through the southern mountains of Midgar either. Clay then said "I have an idea of where we can find them, I also got a plan". He smiled a bit before asking "Ever heard of a Saboteur?" Tifa answered "uhh..no…?" Clay chuckled and said "of course you don't"

Tifa drove as Clay explained that he had to scout for a place south of Midgar where they can stage their 'play' Clay explained that an assault would be made the day Cloud arrived, so Clay and Tifa kept a lookout for any sign of Shinra troops, this way they can also know where exactly Cloud is going to be attacked. The other night Clay devised up a plan and made preparations, gathering the items needed for the trip was easy, as for the plan….well let's just say that Clay didn't have an army…but he plans to a part of one.

A day later

48 hours before Zack's Final Battle

11:30 am

Just as Clay had said; Shinra troops had been spotted on the hills south-east of Midgar. Clay and Tifa were left with approximately 2 days to prepare….preparing their plan to snatch Zack from right under Shinra's nose. A few kilometers away from the patrol road, Tifa observed a platoon of Shinra soldiers from her binoculars, 5 infantry, 3 officers and 1 mock soldier, and from the look of it seems like the mock soldier is the senior officer giving commands, and also leading the patrol around the main camp area. Behind the hills Tifa could see Clay tailing the patrol while keeping out of sight, licking her dry lips Tifa got up, breathed in deeply and said to herself "ok….I can do this" and ran towards the patrol to get into range.

Clay steadied his breath as he hid behind a small hill; he grumbled "Come on….just a little more", and after a few moments of anticipation….. Crack! Boom! A sudden but low blast was heard along with the unmanly screams of Shinra soldiers as they hit the hard ground. Clay popped his head out to see a large horizontal fissure created by Tifa, he quickly ran to it with a rope in his hand.

_FLASH BAAAAACK!...dri dri dri dri_ *ubisoft style*

(Yesterday)

"_What!.." Tifa shouted as she gave Clay another 'are you crazy?' look, he sighed and repeated his plan again "yes, you heard me correct….I want you to use the spell 'Quake' on the ground, a couple of times to make it unstable enough in a large area, one final time when they walk in and Boom! We got ourselves a trap …just make sure we target the road of which Shinra patrols ….and I walk in all dandy to save the day, you do have the Quake materia right?" _

_Frustrated Tifa shot back "yeah I have it but..That's not the point! what if you get caught!?" but Clay didn't respond, all he did was look at her with his 'serious' face, after a brief moment she gave up and got out of the car shouting "well I'm not going to save your ass if they throw you in a cell!" and all he did was shrug and said "fine by me"._

_FLASH BACK END_

The quake materia though in its weakest form can be deadly if used correctly, Clay didn't doubt its possibilities after what he saw today….who would think such a basic spell could cause a mini fissure.

Clay arrived a few minutes later, after he was sure that the soldiers didn't attempt to create a 'man ladder'…. then again they **are** soldiers not gymnastics bred monkey-clowns…but when he got closer he knew why. The hole was deeper than he expected, about 5 and a half meter deep and the diameter was impressive too, in his head he thought _"I'm a genius!"_ but it was cut short when he heard a soldier call.

"hey!...anyone up there?" Clay quickly responded by putting on a red cap and popping his body into view, he was greeted by an arsenal of guns aimed at him, quickly putting his hands up and said "wowowoww!…easy ..easy don't shoot man, I got a wife and kid". "who are you?" the mock soldier asked, Clay answered promptly "hey I'm just a delivery man….." holding up his hand in defeat, The soldier in command eyed him for a moment before saying "can you get some help? Seems like we're stuck, there is a Shinra camp posted just north of here"

Clay acted like he gave a damn about the thought for a minute….then said "Yeah I could do that…or I could just get some rope from my delivery truck" and disappeared before the soldier could reply. There was relief and suspicion on the Mock soldier's face, but considering his options he just wanted to get the hell out of here and lead his subordinates back to camp… feeling a hunch that something bad was going to happen, like all hell was about to break loose…. only if he knew.

Then an officer name Mcoy asked "Sir, can we trust the man?" the Mock soldier was already thinking heavily on the subject, and was about to reply when a guy from the infantry unit name Johnny said "I sure fucking hope we can! Cuz I need to take a dump! Badly"

Then someone from the platoon said "are you fucking kidding me?!" followed by someone saying "Aww hell no, Johnny you are NOT shitting in here!" and frustrated groans from other units in the platoon.

"Enough! Man up soldier!" The mock soldier ordered his platoon, he continued "And Bear with it Johnny, shit in your pants if you have to but we got no other choice but to wait" the platoon was silent except for someone saying lowly "oh well fuck me sideways…". Above Clay held back his laughter, after hearing the soldier's mishap.

Through the corner of his eye he saw Tifa coming towards him, he immediately gave her a thumb up, and she nodded in return as she crept up behind him. Popping back into view Clay said "Hey sorry for the wait, I finally found my rope…" he then threw one end of the rope down, and warned them "uhh…be sure to go one at a time alright? This stuff isn't really your military grade" the soldiers gave each other a look, when Johnny grabbed the rope and said "first come…." SMACK! A slap to his neck by the mock soldier made him shut his mouth "I'm going first you idiot" said the mock soldier as he climbed up the steep fissure, when he reached the top Clay gave him a hand, as he got up he said "Thanks..I didn't know when the next patrol will come through and…" *SINKT*

The soldier went silent as the small blade was pressed up against his throat; he felt it touch his apple when he gulped down a scream right after Tifa whispered in his ear "Thank us later….if you live" after snatching away his gun she then gave him some instructions, then motioned clay to cut the rope, the soldier immediately replied "no.…no I can't" Clay grinned, and he couldn't help but say "hey… I got a theory" the mock soldier gave a confused look, Clay continued "they say that men's life span tend to increase if they listened to their opposite sex… you want to help me with my little theory" the soldier closed his eyes and submitted, and said in a shaky voice "fine" Clay patted his head and said "good boy".

Turning around, Clay pushed the soldier to the edge of the hole while holding the Blade to his back hiding it from his confused subordinates, a few steps away Tifa held the machine gun pointed at him itching for a shot, but she waited. The mock soldier spoke "Listen up Men! the rope tore….I guess it really isn't military grade!". Mcoy added "or you're just heavy…" *SMACK!* "ouch!" shouted Mcoy as the soldier next to him hit him.

The mock soldier continued "I'm heading back to the post and getting a better rope so sit tight, and when I get back I'll anchor the rope and head directly back to command to report this alright? Waiting for you _**girls**_ to get up is a waste of time!". They groaned but responded "yes sir!" relived that he had done what he was asked, the soldier turned to Clay and Tifa.

Only to see Clay's Titanium Gauntlet in front of his nose **"CORCK SCREW CROSS!" (Street fighter) **he felt the metal sink into his face and broke his nose, like his face was turned inside out by the whirlwind of ki that enveloped Clay's hand, he could hear the crack of his own jaw as he spun across the pit on to the other side, while the soldiers below were oblivious to what happened….. One of them said "hey did you hear something?" the other one said "nah..Probably just Johnny farting and getting ready to shit his pants" the next one said "Fuck….don't remind me".

Above, Tifa was looking at Clay in astonishment and said "HEY are you crazy? We agreed to knock him out…. or kill him discreetly not and expose ourselves! What if they saw him just now!?" Clay replied "relax he's….uhhhhh alive?" he took a look at the soldier and noticed that his finger had just twitched "yep he's alive" said Clay while slowly turning to Tifa who didn't look too convinced, he continued "And don't worry they probably didn't see a thing" he then circled around to check on the soldier while Tifa did a mocking imitation of Clay.

A few minutes later Clay circled back to Tifa who was waiting anxiously, he said "so…what do you think?" she studied him for a moment and said "it's…believable" he sighed and grumbled "I hope so"

She also added "hey, this was your idea" and walked towards the pit, Tifa carefully placed a large nail and started to hammer it, she then slid a new rope through the hole it had, tied it firmly and tossed the other end into the pit, she could hear the relieved sounds of the soldiers as she walked away towards Clay who was now wearing a Shinra uniform.

This is where they part ways…or at least until the day he was supposed to wreck havoc among Shinra's ranks while she attempt to rescue Cloud (not that he needed it), along with Clay's unknown friend, she wasn't sure if she was happy or sad to see him leave, she guessed that it all depends on how this turns out, heck if it did! Tifa would owe him more than she ever asked for.

Clay jogged in the general direction of the camp, away from the trap and away from Tifa and her pickup truck loaded with a naked unconscious Shinra soldier inside. He bit his lip hoping to blend in with the soldiers with no problem; sure he had the disguise on, with the helmet, shin guards, gloves and shoes but he felt uneasy to leave his gauntlet behind along with his adrenaline shots, and hoping that he wouldn't really need it anytime soon.

His blue uniform was a bit oversized, but not to the point that it stood out, Clay planned to keep it on as long as possible, he didn't want to blow his cover too soon, not that he was scared to fight without his gauntlets….he can handle "humans" pretty easily armed or unarmed, but he doubted it would be the same on monsters or mechs, Clay then made a mental note of his possible weakness against monster and mechanical types.

Before long Clay spotted the establishment in the distance, it was significantly larger than what he saw yesterday, and when he realized that the army was already mobilizing he swore "Damn it! It's just one guy why do they have to…" he stopped when a helicopter that recently took off flew over him, he sighed and said to himself "great…how can I forget, man Shinra do love their overkills huh...now what else are they going to have ?Mortars launchers, grenades, dynamite, Mako time bombs, exploding cupcakes and tentacles mons…" he stopped then said "wait…explosions, dynamites …" and ran towards the camp, he stopped momentarily to look for an ID card of the soldier who's identity he stole which he found it in his back pocket, with an evil smile he held up the card and said to himself "to the arsenal tent!"

Clay entered the camp with ease, nobody suspected him as he walked past the tents and barracks which housed probably around a total of 20 people each, and seeing the size of the encampment there could be thousands. The land was a barren wasteland, infertile soil with no greens in sight, there were Shinra soldiers running here and there sending reports, patrolling, target practicing and sparring all over the camp, Clay seemed to arrive at a very busy moment and lucky for him nobody seemed to care if a group of patrol was running late, however he still needed to find out where they kept their guns and, 2 days were more than enough to do it.

2 days later (after a lot of tasteless rations)

35 minutes before Zack's appointed death (A.N:- "Death" not the start of his battle)

It was a cloudless sunny afternoon, every Shinra soldiers were all at the assembly point by then, standing in neat rows while the commander walked through the aisle. He was an older looking fellow with a SOLDIER second class uniform; "Now then!" he shouted as all the soldiers stiffened, he continued in his commanding tone "our target, as we all know is SOLDIER first Class! Zack fair" some men seemed to flinch as Zack's name was mentioned, the commander continued "he is armed, dangerous and has, resisted multiple attempts to stop him, this man is not afraid to kill! but today!... we **WILL** kill him!" he then walked up a large rock that over looked the entire camp.

"_Well what do you expect him to do dance a ballerina when Shinra tried to 'capture' their test subjects" _thought Clay as he heard the speech. The old Soldier turned to a younger man who didn't have a physique of a soldier but was wearing a Shinra uniform albeit a pale yellow one, different than the traditional blue color. The color signified the role of the unit, and in this case the 'strategist', he then announced "100 rifle men from the Bravo Company are needed on the front line on the cliff, Platoon D3 to D8 will be on back up if they are to fall, we need heavy mortar fire by the platoon A3 and A2 station on the canyons, the rest of alpha platoon will be on air drops, the rest of you will engage him directly, only fall back if the artillery fire is used!"

The soldiers scrambled, checking their gears, armor and ammo. There were talk among the platoons of why they needed so many people for 1 guy, some spoke of rumors about Zack killing the 3 legendary SOLDIERS Angeal, Sephiroth and even Genesis, the encampment was as busy as it could ever get. Clay was waiting behind a tent; he overheard a conversation by a mortar squad

"Hey you hear? Johnny shat his pants on his entire platoon!" said the first soldier who was loading a mortar launcher onto a wooden container, the other one who just got back from the ammunitions room answered "yeah the poor guy got demoted, probably assigned to cleanup duty by now" the other replied "lucky him, I don't want to fight this...Zack fellow, I heard he was a real beast from Kunsel" the first one stopped and nodded his head and carried the container away, leaving the ammunitions soldier alone in front of the tent.

Suddenly a voice from behind him said "oh he's a beast alright...he can dodge those bullets and kill you before you know you ran out" the soldier turned around while saying "and who the fuck asked you...o..ooww…oh crap" his last word faded away when he saw Clay in his mock soldier uniform, the soldier replied "sorry sir I didn't kn…" Clay shouted "THAT'S ENOUGH! Get to your squad!" he immediately responded "ye..yes sir!" and ran away with a mortar bag over his shoulder.

Clay gave a sigh of relief and thanked god for army rank superiority, he turned around and got into the tent that the men had left, inside he found more mortar, many crates of grenades and lots of bullets, he didn't bother to look at the guns as he didn't know how to use one (except for snipers), and Shinra's guns were different than the ones back on earth. Clay immediately started working on setting fire to the crates filled with grenades with a lighter he managed to steal from another soldier, while momentarily checking out side if anyone bothered to spot his firework prank….to call it a firework would be an understatement, Clay also wasn't worried about the crates not catching fire or dying out either…beside he was sure the other **10** tents he set fire to was about to explode any second now.

Mean while…

A pickup truck stopped in the middle of the barren land, its 2 passengers, a blond and a tall man with a towering sword resting on his back. They got off, with one carrying the blonde by the shoulder; he then placed him below a rocky cliff. The limp man didn't move a muscle, but the swordsman just smiled, he rustled the blonde's hair and walked off, not knowing the hand that tried to reach out to him by Cloud.

"Boy oh boy…..the price of freedom is steep" Zack said as he stood down the barrel of more than a hundred machine guns. Swords were at the ready, gun's safety off, and all eyes were on him as he spoke his supposed last words "…and whatever you do…..PROTECT YOUR HONOR AS SOLDIER!..." Zack grabbed his buster sword and charged directly at the troops "COME AND GET IT!"

A man in a Shinra uniform shouted "Open fire!" it was in that moment that the sky had darkened. Darkened by the bullets that rained upon Zack, his reflexes were at its peak, dodging and deflecting anything thrown his way as he ran to the first firing squad, though many had found its mark, his MAKO enhancement kicked in, shrugging off blows after blows of bullets as it hit his arms, legs and chest, yet Zack was unfazed and charged towards his opponent.

Before long the firing team ran out of their first magazine and started to reload, "secondary rifleman fire!" shouted a man, but Zack just needed that small window to close the distance. He leapt forward in a kick aimed at a unit with a sword; the impact of his boot seemed to crush the soldier's helmet and skull, dropping him instantly, the firing team was now ready and started to fire again, but Zack dodged to the side, one by one the soldiers fell as they realized that they were in each other's line of fire. Zack could see the bullets clearly ….. But there were just too many.

He spun his body in the direction of his closest enemy and crushed the poor soldier's torso with a blunt blow by the buster sword; his body seemed to be disfigured after a single swing. More shots came his way, but this time it exploded, "SHIT!... mortars?" Zack swore as he somersaulted sideways to the nearest soldier, catching him off guard just when he was about to throw a grenade, Zack landed on his face delivering a good old fashioned drop kick…the kind you see in WWE.

More blows landed as Zack fended off the attackers, he was as injured as much as he was full of courage to press on, Zack casted "FIRA!...ga?" but stopped momentarily to look in the distance behind all the soldiers. Zack haven't noticed until a minute ago, the mortar had stopped firing and there was a strangely beautiful yet deadly looking explosion in the distance behind the soldiers.

KABOOM! cRaCkLe! Boom! Vehicles that detonated can be seen whizzing through the air leaving behind trails of embers. Resonating through the air were sounds of people screaming, and more combustible objects exploding could be heard far away, Zack was too distracted to notice until now. The soldier's faces were filled with horror as they looked back upon the cliff….at the flaming encampment.

Mean while.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIT!" Clay shouted as he ran for his life, throwing away his helmet at some random dude as he ran past him. Nothing in his harsh life of a martial artist and growing up with a single parent prepared him for this moment, as of every passing second parkour was the only skill he needed, and suddenly grateful that his friend had got him into it. Clay was sliding under transport cars, jumping over crates, and bitch slapping anyone in his way, he didn't care about his disguise anymore as he sprinted past falling debris of scorching tents and exploded barracks barley missing him by a hair's breath, looking in the distance in front of him, Clay saw a helicopter took off lifting slowly just when another tent that Clay had set fire to exploded, its shockwave was immense causing the helicopter to lose control, but then he realized it….. "_I've been running for a while now why am I not out of the camp yet…Oh shit! Don't tell me I ran __**INTO**__ the camp!?"_

Suddenly realizing his mistake, Clay cursed himself for not being care full, he had not realized the other soldiers that were running in the opposite direction, but his frustration was cut short as he heard a rhythmic sound of whizzing air, and appearing in front of him was the same helicopter…. now on fire and falling down straight at him. Wasting no time Clay pin wheeled to the side and landed in a prone position just when the chopper's blade massacred nearby tents and temporary barracks, structures around the helicopter were ripped to shreds without mercy.

Under the rubble, Clay tried to crawl through the splinters, wood and metal, trying to escape the helicopter's deadly radius and a possible incineration of his ass… if it exploded. Dust had entered his left eye and the wind was not helping, the air was burning his lungs as embers filled the air, his leg ached when he clawed and kicked his way from the crash site. Reaching a safer distant, Clay got up only for his left knee to give up on him as he fell into a kneeling position. "_This is too much!" _Clay thought, "No no no, no!" he whisperedto himself, as tears filled his eyes… a part of his life flashed before him.

_Clay: - age 14_

_The sleeves of the young boy were torn to shreds, blood seeped through his mouth as Clay walked through his front door, slowly going up the stairs to his room but a voice that always seemed to stop him in his tracks called him out "__**Another fight Clay?". **__His father's commanding voice always seemed to resonate around the house like he was everywhere, "NO!" Clay replied, "__**I can see those fractured fingers**__"__his father said, but now from a point….behind him._

_Clay gasped as he realized his father was close to him, his father spoke again "__**What did they say this time?"**__ Clay sniffed as a tear was about to be shed….. "__**Don't you dare…cry!" **__his body stiffened when his father scolded him, Clay answered "but it hurts.." he swallowed hard before saying "and he said I didn't have a mother…that I was a son of a whore", his father said "__**And you punched him for saying that….. right?**__" Clay slowly nodded admitting his offence _

"_**And are you not a man? Or are you a hypocrite?"**__ Clay winced and shook his head motioning a NO, "__**Then when you landed that strike on him…you made the decision to fight" **__Clay looked as his father and asked "So what?" his father replied "__**SO?...you're grown up now, …. you posses great power but no conviction!…and without it you are just a mad beast bound to doom!" **__ His father sighed and walked off to get a first aid kit while Clay sat on the stairs holding his limp fist, he was thinking of his father's words._

_The old man came back with box in hand, he knelt down to tend to his son's hand and said "__**I cannot stop you from making the choices you make in life Clay, and I trust my son to always make the right decision, but…if you cry now….it is to regret the path you choose, so NEVER look back from whatever you do….if you started it, finish it with your head held high regardless of it being good or bad in other people's eyes" **__his father's large hands rested on Clay's shoulder as he spoke __**"but for us….Good or evil does not exist"**_

_***Memory end***_

Swallowing hard, "AHHHHHHRGH..! " Clay shouted in agony as he pushed up with his other leg, now standing up Clay assessed himself…he was smeared with soil all over, his clothes were a mess, there was blood seeping through his mouth, and his left leg was wounded from multiple flesh wounds, courtesy of Mr. Ghost rider's helicopter when he evaded the crash. Limping slowly, turning into a slow run Clay said to himself "Damn you…. old geezer" with a faint smile_. _The encampment was in flames, the heat didn't help either, Clay's run slowly turned into a slow walk as he stumbled away from tent after tent that caught fire, he then reached a dead end, blocked by the barracks that collapsed, blocking his way out of the camp. If he wasn't injured Clay would've easily use a foot technique to jump across but…that was out of the question with his condition. His legs felt heavy and started to give away, Clay knelt down, while looking around for an exit.

After a minute of depleting Oxygen and what seemed like a Rebecca Black's Friday marathon, out of the blue Clay heard the sound of a roaring engine going on a full rev, and sure enough a pickup truck busted through a nearby flaming tent, skidding across the ground and coming to a halt in front of Clay, in the front seat he could see Tifa who shouted "GET IN THE CAR NOW!" It was a no brainer, he limped his way to the shotgun seat, Clay said "You came back for me…..I thought you'd run away..and how did you find me?" gasping for air after a few words, Clay looked at a disappointed Tifa who gave him a frown but she smiled and said "Woman's intuition, and I wouldn't have come…..if I didn't find him" and motioned her hand to the small back seat of the pickup truck, Clay instantly looked back to find a semi-conscious Cloud.

He shouted "HOLY SHIT! I was right!" trying to sound surprise. Tifa smiled and replied "No time to celebrate, let's get out of here" Tifa switched the gear to reverse and crashed her way out of the camp. Clay took a breath of fresh air and said "woo…..I'm…still…alive?" Tifa looked at him and said "yeah…and you look like you just fell from Midgar's top plate" the sentence made Clay flinch, she tossed him a weird looking vial of red liquid, puzzled Clay held it up and said "What's this?"

Tifa answered "duh….That's a health potion, don't tell me you don't know it, aren't you like a…" Clay immediately cut her off "oh right yeah… I knew that!...Pffft, I was just you know dizzy from all the smoke and…stuff I couldn't see clearly, sorry" he immediately popped the lid and drank the tasteless liquid, and to his surprise the effect was instant, the pain in his leg seemed to reduce significantly, some of his wounds were suddenly healed, leaving behind only a few cuts here and there. In the small back seat Cloud groaned as he slowly got up from the lying position, still unable to move properly he managed to utter a single word which caught Clay's attention …. "Za….ZACK"

"Shit!" Clay swore as Tifa gave him a worried look and asked "what's wrong?" He replied immediately "Turn the car around now!" surprised at his request she shot back "What are you crazy, back to the camp? What if the soldiers regroup?" too frustrated at how he forgot about Zack his main goal, Clay replied "The soldier's are gone, either dead or running for their lives...besides we're not going back** in** the camp" The idea was absurd, after all… they barely escaped only to be captured again?, but her trust for him grew the moment she met Cloud, cranking up the hand breaks, she drifted a 180 degrees turn and headed back to the camp from which large amount of smoke can be seen in the distance.

Clay popped his head out of the window and pointed to the side of the camp "There! Circle around the camp! There's another Cliff behind it!" Tifa stepped on the gas switching the gear to its highest, she then noticed soldier scattered around the area in front of her, in annoyance she said "you said there were no soldiers here….I see an entire company worth of soldiers!"

Ignoring Tifa Clay made up his mind, though it seemed impossible, he really had to save Zack, his death would affect the chances of Gaia surviving another apocalypse greatly, he frowned and said "Tifa trust me, just drive! These guys won't even know we're here!" She replied instantly "what do you mean no one will notice?!" but before Clay could answer they heard a loud explosion, accompanied by many gunfire, she immediately yelled at Clay "you were saying?" but all he did was smile and say "they weren't shooting at us….look" he pointed straight ahead, as they rode through the narrow opening to the battlefield in the distance Tifa saw a tall, dark figure moving across the battle field filled with soldiers, as they closed the distance Tifa could see the bodies of more than a hundred men laid across the barren land in their own blood pool…some alive some dead, there was so much blood that it could refresh this land if it were water Tifa thought, Zack slowly came into view and didn't look too good himself, there were bullet holes all over his clothes yet none seemed to penetrate his flesh, his condition was like Clay a while ago….or even worse, yet he didn't run…he fought, slashed, Kicked, incinerated, and crushed all of Shinra's troops that stood before him.

Clay slid his head out of the car window and shouted "ZAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!" while waving his arms.

On the battle ground Zack could have sworn he heard someone Call out his name, but he was too busy staying alive and holding onto his precious memories, then he heard it …his name was called out yet again and this time he saw a pickup truck headed straight for him, but he quickly rolled out of another firing squads line of fire coming from atop the cliff, he then threw his sword at the main commander of the squad who was on top of the canyon, the buster sword pierced him through the chest almost chopping the man in half but also scaring the shit out of everyone around him, in a panic they started to run but Zack was already on them, expertly maneuvering towards them while breaking the spirit of his enemies.

"ZAAAAACK! GET TO THE CHOPA…I MEAN GET IN!NOW!" shouted Clay on top of his lungs, Zack looked down from the canyon at the source of the voice to see a young man around his age, with jet black hair waving his arms wildly, the same moment a bullet had hit and ricocheted off his left chest "arggh!" he yelled in agony, he took a look at the enemies firing at him…around 15 or more appeared from air drops, he then glanced at the car, making up his mind he picked up the buster sword and ran down the Canyon towards the high speed vehicle.

Tifa wondered who the man was, but right now she was more worried of how she would get out of here, since the pot of gold was that man name "Zack" she turned to Clay and asked "is he coming? and if he is, how the hell do we get out of here with them shooting at us….THEY HAVE RPGS damn it!" Clay hesitated but replied "don't worry! Just turn around and get out the same way we came in" he continued "tu…turn around now he's here..."

He shouted once more "HEY! Over here get on if you want to live!" the truck had already past the midpoint of the battle field surrounded by large canyons when it took another turn, Zack on the other hand had just dislodged himself from the canyon hills that populated the area, it was a good spot for Shinra to fire from too. Running not towards the car but in its trajectory he hoped to cross path with it in time to jump on….he didn't know who this person and his accomplice is, but it seemed like it was his only ticket out of here. "_What about Cloud?...is he ok?...but I don't want to die here..Aerith"_

Moments later the squads had notice the speeding vehicle, with the possibility of the target escaping on it. The older commander shouted "Damn it! Use the helicopters do not let them escape!" a warrant officer responded "sir reports from the main camp says we lost almost all of our vehicles and only 2 helicopters are functional, but even those are used to transport the injured right now, total casualties in the camp is unknown sir, it seems we won't be getting any reinforcement either"

Frustrated beyond control the commander cursed a super combo of curses, he grumbled "which idiot dare sabotage our camp!?" the warrant officer replied "we believe it was hired saboteur, or maybe even an AVALANCHE member that did it" The older man face palmed and said "give me that RPG, I'm going to end it myself…The rest of you KEEP FIRING!"

Zack was about to cross path with the vehicle when Tifa suddenly sped up, Zack cursed and started to run faster and damn was he tiered, Clay on the other hand was yelling at Tifa "SLOW down woman he won't make it this way!" she replied immediately "and let ourselves be an easy target or hey maybe lets park right here and be target practice!….I don't think so!", Clay shot back "just turn towards him, he won't make it!" Tifa objected again "No, we can't it's too risky he's too close to the canyons, too many soldiers" frustrated but seeing that she had a point, Clay then vaulted half his body out of the car window, he could see Zack running towards their trajectory, he then reached out his hand calling him out "come on Zack come on!"

Mean while, Zack forced his legs to move faster but only to be met with fatigue, yet he pressed on as much as he could. The car was now only a few meters away to his right and it was coming in fast, he wasn't going to make it to the road to intercept it….. In his last effort Zack leapt forward, head first, hands extended towards the road hoping the speed of the car could make Clay catch him in time, Zack's world went into slow-mo, he could see the car moving past him, and reaching out to him was Clay's hand.

In the same moment Clay held his breath as he caught Zack's forearm, within the second his momentum kicked in, Clay was pulled out of the car but caught the hand rail just in time before he was propelled out of the vehicle. On the other hand (literally) Zack was a ragdoll hanging in the air as Clay pulled him.

Zack glanced at pickup truck's loading and shrugged off Clay's grip, somehow Clay felt a mini heart attack as his hands went empty, he shouted "NOOO!" and quickly turned to look at behind the car….he didn't see Zack. Despair was about to swallow him when a voice next to him said "Hey, stop shouting…I'm tiered"

Looking at the loading area of the pickup he saw Zack laying on his back on the hard trunk, breathing heavily, hands and legs spread out like he was making a snow angel, seeing that Zack was safe Clay massaged his temples "Don't….do…that…again, or Cloud will never have a proper mentor", still breathing heavily Zack answered "Can't make that promise" and smiled as he heard his friends name being said, he had a feeling that Cloud was safe and that was all it needed to calm him from his adrenaline rush.

Looking at the clear blue sky, Zack felt like it was going to rain today….maybe he was wrong. Suddenly the car took a quick turn evading an explosion that would have incinerated them, unexpectedly sending Zack to the side of the trunk and hitting his face on the truck rail "oww!" he shouted holding his forehead, meanwhile Clay popped his head out of car again saying "RPG! Zack! Can you do something about it!?" Zack got up holding the rail for support and answered "How about…me holding on to my life, and more evasive maneuvers?" Clay looked ahead and turned back to reply when the truck suddenly shifted to the right missing another blast by the RPG, Clay shouted "Tifa can't strafe run anymore the path up ahead is to narrow!" hearing what Clay said, Zack got up and analyzed the road ahead of them.

The large cayons were on both side of the road, Shinra soldiers were dug in ready for a duck hunt, Zack spotted more incoming projectile, immediately drawing his sword and saying "Get inside and brace yourselves!" holding the buster sword in his usual stance, though his arms ached with every muscle fiber he used to carry the large sword, he gritted his teeth as he got ready for the barrage of projectiles, concentrating at nothing but the missiles and thought to himself "_just like in Banora eh?"_

When Clay got back in, Tifa said "I can't move anymore the road is to narrow!" fastening his seat belt Clay replied "Don't worry, just drive….leave the RPGs to Zack" she gave him the 'What the Fuck' look but seeing how he looked quite relaxed despite being on the other end of an ROCKET PROPPELED GERNADE.., she did as she was told.

And without warning Tifa heard the sound of metal clanking, followed by explosions that erupted between the car, funny she thought….their aiming was getting bad, more explosions followed closely and none of them seemed to be anywhere near the car…some were way of its mark. Tifa turned to grinning Clay and asked "What's going on…?" Clay smiled at the question and answered "that guy sure is handy with a sword" Tifa's mouth were wide open in astonishment, she stammered "n...n….no way is…he really?"

Mean while, outside the car on the pickup truck's trunk, Zack was deftly slashing the grenades and projectiles thrown at them In half, grunting as he made the final swing, his sword cleanly slit the RPG in half, followed by 2 explosions behind the truck, with that Zack knelt down, and slowly laid on his back again to catch his breath as the vehicle skidded out into the open barren land. "He did it!" Tifa celebrated looking at Clay, "Hey hey there! Eyes on the road Missy we're not exactly scot free yet" said Clay who's heart was beating like crazy.

At the top of the canyon, the commander was frustrated but kept his calm as he radio called HQ "We got a big problem sir…Zack Fair is still alive and he's not alone"

**An hour later 1:45 pm**

Zack, Tifa, Clay and a clumsy Cloud got out of a beat up pickup truck, there were bullet holes, bent marks and scratches all over, they watched it as it slowly sank into the pile of scrap metal, "sweet" commented Zack as he watched it get towed into its secret compartment, turning to Clay, they exchanged looks for a few seconds before saying to each other **"You look like shit"**. Tifa walked up between the two men and said "you both look like shit" patting Clay on the back she continued "come on…we need to lay low for a while" Zack opened his mouth to ask how the hell did they Cloud, but decided to wait, it was the least he could do for now.

**Later at 7th heaven**

Clay and Tifa helped carry Cloud into his room above the bar, his Mako addiction was wearing off but it will take some time before he could be holding a weapon again. Tifa laid him on the couch, while Zack sat on the floor next to him; Clay however went over and waited by the door after he helped Cloud in. Zack was the first to speak, he said "hey….we never really thanked you yet, so uhh….Thank you" blushing from the fact that he wasn't very used to thanking women….who would've thought.

Expressing his official gratitude to Tifa, Cloud added in his sleepy tone "Tifa…how…. did ….you find us?" before she answered, Tifa gave Cloud a hug, leaving Zack whispering to himself "_I should get out_", but before he could get up, she broke her embrace and said "No…it's alright"

Studying his face closely she remembered him from Nibelheim, she pointed out "You…you're the one at Nibelheim" Zack opened his mouth to apologized but Tifa cut him off "Don't say anything I know you're not Shinra anymore" she looked at Clay who was by the door and said "And don't thank me, your friend here told me you needed help, and honestly all I did was drive". Zack looked at Clay who had now changed back into his altered taekwondo pants, red T-shirt that says **Shin densetsu **inJapanese (true legend) and his father's black trench coat. Zack said in a confused tone "He's my friend? …. Hey don't take this the wrong way…I mean I'd like to know him, but I never even met him before"

Zack continued "And I reckon you're the guy who made those fireworks, crazy stunt you pulled there" Clay chuckled at Zack's comment and said "I guess I'm a crazy guy" Tifa cut in and said "wait…so you guys don't know each other" both men answered simultaneously "**No**" with Clay obviously lying, Tifa eyed Clay and said "So…you come in here saving two people you barely know?..." Clay opened his mouth to answer but was cut short when Tifa said "you know what!... don't answer that, too many things to processes today….I'm going to get some stuff" with that she walked off shaking her head in disbelief leaving the men standing in the room with cloud fast asleep on the couch**.**

Sure enough Zack was tired, but his curiosity kept him up, "_who is this man?"_ Zack thought as he searched his memories. following Clay down to the empty bar, taking a seat on the bar stool, he could really use something to numb down his aching body, and seeing that Clay was looking to talk, he might as well get something to drink. Clay read his mind and said "Don't get a drink….besides Tifa's not here yet" Zack replied with curiosity "Oh? She's the bartender?" Clay walked to the table and sat, placing his foot on empty chair he answered "yeah…she is" Zack continued "Can't I just buy a drink from somewhere?"

Clay replied immediately "No.." frowning, Zack asked "And why is that?" Clay placed his hand on his temple and said "I said no because….I want to make sure you get my message sober, and also because its going to sound crazy" Zack gave a big sigh, but didn't bother to resist and replied "Alright, let's hear it….oh and by the way my name is Zack Fa.." he was cut off by Clay "I know who you are" he said, Zack lifted an eyebrow and said "okay?...what else do you know"

END!

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Author's note

In regards to Clay's toughness, he is pretty weak when compared to all the characters in Final fantasy 7, but I'm speaking in terms of FF7's gaia not earth, he is in fact considered to be the top 10 fighters alive on earth gaining the title of "Shin densetsu" who his father also acquired in his own time even if he doesn't compete in mass media competition, (I had an idea of something like street fighter tournament) which will be explained later through the story.

IF you haven't read Clay's bio (My OC's profile) READ IT NAO!

Will update soon.


	4. Chapter 4 Fixing a Fractured Universe

**Disclaimer!**

**I don't own final fantasy 7, the right to final fantasy 7 it belongs to Square Enix**

**I also don't own the references of other movies/games/anime in this fanfiction.**

**Bold are …..Important stuff/techniques/limit breaks/ spells/ ice cream sandwiches and Cakes**

_Italics are thoughts/voices/Whispers/Sean Connery narrating/ Morgan freeman speaking_

_A single Company = consist of many platoons_

_Platoon = around 7-10 men_

_AND YES THE PAIRINGS ARE SET for ZACK AND AERITH….. BAGAAAAGAA! I'M gonna eat DORITAAZ!_

_If you have a suggestion go ahead….I'm all ears, no pairings for my OC or any others yet….you're welcomed to try._

* * *

**Chapter 4: Fixing a Fractured Existence**

**7th Heaven 7:30 PM**

Unforgiving was the wind of the night and uncanny was the word to describe the evening. The occasional whistling from the window made the ambiance of the situation inside the 7th heaven even weirder. Weirder in the sense of dimension shifting - death revealing - side scrolling? - Fate defying mumbo jumbo.

Rubbing his temples, Zack slowly spun around on the barstool. Placing his hands on the table he proceeded to scratch his head in disbelief. He said "Ok so this is the 3rd time you're telling me this and it's the same stuff I heard the first two times, how about a different bed time story… eh?" Sitting across him was Clay who exhaled slowly, giving yet another sigh at the failed attempt to explain Zack his situation.

After a few moments of gathering his nerves Clay replied in frustration "Well that's because it's not a fairy friggin tale…. damn it!" with that said, Zack simply motioned his finger to his head and spun it around trying to say that Clay's gone "coo-coo".

His last attempt to make Zack understand the weight of his situation wasn't getting any better. So gathering his thoughts, Clay came to a conclusion that it was futile to force someone to believe that he was indeed telling the truth, especially if it contained allot of multi-universe "bullshit" Or that's what Zack called it.

Clay knew that the truth was harsh, but even then he hadn't revealed everything. Not even Zack's own demise, maybe he ought to play that card now.

Looking at his own hand, Clay noticed several bruises on his palm, inflicted upon him during the chase earlier that day, it reminded him of something. Deciding to put the matter aside for now, he got up and proceeded out of the bar, only stopping by the door to say one last piece of information and also throwing Zack an envelope from Aerith. Clay spoke in a low voice, and hoping that his words would make Zack reconsider and think on the subject of his "Bullshit"

Truth be told, Zack would never forget what Clay said to him that night for as long as he lived. After several minutes of pondering on what seems like a million thoughts, Zack frantically left the bar...to the slum's church, leaving behind his buster sword.

*A few minutes before he left*

The cold night was upon Midgar, sweeping the slums with an icy gust that would've chilled a man down to his soul. Clay stepped down from the bar, while observing his surroundings. He noticed several shops open despite the cold weather, not that he expects the slums to be bustling with people. It was allot different than a few days ago when he first arrived. Now there were only a handful of people walking about, warming their hands, looking at wooden food stalls that seemed to barley withstand the wind. Clay warmed his hands inside his trench coats pocket, despite wearing a leather gauntlet his fingers were freezing. Making up his mind, Clay made his way to the scrap yard where the truck was hidden, not before spotting a very stern looking Zack without his usual weapon, he quickly paced out of the bar and proceeded in the direction to which Clay assumed was the slum's church.

Moments later after a few wrong turns, Clay made his way to the scrap yard filled with piles of miscellaneous metal objects. Checking the area and satisfied that he was alone, Clay removed his trench coat, shirt and gauntlet ignoring the icy wind. Braving the unpleasant weather **(he liked it this way)** he went on to perform multiple stretch exercises for multiple muscles, especially his legs. A few minutes later Clay practiced different Ka-tas **(shadow boxing for karate and different styles) **switching his stance to tai chi, then to Muay Thai Shaiya then to Kung fu, followed by several Chinese kenpos, and back to Tai chi again.

Clay kept at it for an hour, even though he felt like it was only 20 minutes. It was in his habit to get lost in training, in fact he considered it a whole different form of art, to combine the different martial arts of which he knew existed. Kind of like making a new cocktail, and it was a passion that never left him. His skin was dry even though he knew his body was sweating like crazy, no doubt the wind did it's job.

His body trembled under the cold, but his father had put him through more extreme conditions. However Clay's body was not at all comparable to Arnold Schwarzenegger, in fact his muscles were smaller than anyone would expect. The reason is that Clay adopts the **"non-Useless muscle"** technique, a very complex build that eliminates all the useless muscles on the human body and only strengthen the much needed ones. This resulted in a smaller (but not thin) body frame, which promotes agility, power and flexibility creating dense but smaller muscles.

After a brief moment of calming himself from the cold, Clay closed his eyes and isolated his mind and calmed himself...blocking all his senses to concentrate. In an instant, his body stopped its occasional trembling from the cold. Holding up a Tai Chi stance, he relaxed his wrist, joints and bent his knees. After a brief moment, Clay exhaled, thrusting his hands forward from his sides, like he was pushing an object in each palm towards a point in front of him. The Ki that resonated from each pore of his body started swirling around Clay; slowly turning blue from the point of his palm, moving the wind along with it.

As he was about to execute the defensive technique, out of nowhere Clay heard a very loud sound of multiple metal objects hitting the ground. It registered in his brain, but in his mind he already recited"_**Kikosho!" (Street fighter) **_No doubt he realized he was being watched, but before he could think any further, an excruciating pain struck him on his wrist and building up to his entire body. Like all the blood vessels in his body decided to just blow up.

**BOOM!** A small blue Ki explosion blasted from his wrist pushing him a few feet backward, landing on his back. "Arrrggghh…."Clay groaned in pain, his wrist was steaming hot and red as hell; moreover his ears were ringing like crazy and his mind raced to an entry in his father's book.

"**Ki disruption" I gave this name to the phenomenon in which the flow of Ki is suddenly stopped with no physical output, causing a sudden release of Ki at the point of concentrated pulse flow. I'm not sure of its exact repercussion, but the victims of the heat strike seemed to show the same symptoms, even after…(more)**

**Entry No.70051st, Hayton. (Clay's father)**

His sight had been disoriented, but Clay could still hear some footsteps through his bleeding ear, footsteps which turned into a run. Still dazed, he couldn't see the person that stood before him as he lay on the ground. He felt the person's hand catch his nape, lifting him up a bit and placing his head on something soft. His eyes tried to focus, but it was hard when all the Ki in his body was trying to escape from every opening of his body… including the eyes. Clay felt something trickle his lips as it trailed down his neck, he couldn't see it but guessed it was blood. In fact the liquid that fell from his mouth was indeed red as blood, yet it wasn't blood.

Tifa tried her best not to spill the vial of health potion carefully pouring so Clay wouldn't choke on it. She had stumble upon him on her way back from her errands. Curious and intrigued by his strange style, she stayed and watched for a few minutes, not realizing that she took a step closer every few seconds and clearly captivated by his martial arts. However she accidentally kicked a metal pipe holding up a pile of scrap metal, causing Clay to lose his concentration.

A minute later Clay's eyes were able to focus and his pupils stopped dilating randomly. He was looking at a familiar woman. Tifa spoke "Hey…hey can you hear me?" She said hoping that Clay's mind was not in limbo. He replied by frowning and closing his eyes tightly and tried to think straight. He decided to sit up, brushing off Tifa's hand as she protested he lied down a bit longer.

He looked at his wrist to see his skin red as a tomato, good thing he hadn't used too much Ki, otherwise his arms and wrist…or even his entire body would have blown up. Turning to Tifa who looked somewhat worried, Clay tried to speak but instead of words he coughed up some blood instead. "Clay...hey Clay, you need to see a doctor! Potions won't help you forever…look I know a guy who can…." She ranted on to Clay, who was silent the entire time.

He tried to stand but stumbled sideways, catching a metal bar that poked out of the ground, holding it firmly to support himself, while whiping out some more blood from his bloody ear, Clay finally spoke through his sore mouth "how long have you been watching me?" and breathed out slowly trying to steady his heart beat which felt like a hyperactive chipmunk on caffeine and cocaine.

Tifa felt slightly guilty for spying on him. It would be an even bigger guilt trip if she knew the fact that she was the one who broke his concentration, almost resulting in an agonizing death. Tifa replied "sorry, I didn't mean to…., I was just passing by" while avoiding a direct eye contact with him.

Clay didn't care how many times she apologized; he was angry….very angry, but not with her in fact he wasn't even mad at her, Clay angry with himself. He just stood there, and tried to remember how many times he was about to die since he arrived on Gaia. _**"2 times…no 3…yeah that's right, I almost died 3 time in 4 days" **_Clay thought, strangely amused by the numbers. Picking up his clothes, his hands still trembled. He experienced a faint ecstacy in his tone as he said "Good night" despite what happened.

Clay walked away slowly, leaving behind a very confused girl in the middle of the scrap yard. Tifa called after him "Hey….Clay…Clay! Listen to me! Heeeeey!" She followed him, running past the Eurasian man to stop him. She asked again "Are you sure you're alright?" Clay fell silent to her question. Tifa gave a sigh and apologized again "look I'm sorry….if you're mad at me then fine, but jeez answer me at least!" silent…..she continued "do you even know where you're go…." She couldn't finish her sentence.

Clay's vision had long vanished since Tifa stopped him. After a few uncontrollable sways, his body gave in. Clay's body fell forward, his face embraced Tifa's Cleavage at a speed that would send kids that had just hit puberty to the next level of arousal. Tifa blushed, not knowing what happened she was about to push him away but stopped, noticing yet another trail of blood running down his ears smearing her white tank top….Clay was now ndeed unconscious. "Fuck..!" she swore, while barely being able to support his weight with her arms. She slowly laid him down, thinking of her next course of action.

However, it seems like "Lady Luck" was in favor of Clay, Zack and Aerith were walking past the scrap yard. Tifa, who immediately recognized Zack, yelled out his name.

**30 minutes ago**

**Church slums**

The door of the church opened violently…actually it broke open. Sending in a man wearing a black suit, he landed with a hard with the impact creating dents on the wooden floor. The injured Turk rolled over a couple of times from the momentum that sent him blasting through the door. Though he tried to get up, the kick to his rib cage made it hard for any man to breath and the pain of about 12 fractured ribs was unbearable. In a matter of seconds the man was unconscious and collapsed once more.

Rushing in was a frantic looking Zack, still wearing his SOLDIER 1st class uniform which looked like it went through a blender that could shoot bullets and lasers. He ran further into the church, ignoring the unconscious Turk. Zack could see a figure amidst the flower bed that he once fell on, it was Aerith Gainsborough.

The sight of his friend made him very happy indeed, he could've cried but deided to protect his macho man image. Aerith on the other hand was shocked to see a man crashing down the church door very late at night; she then noticed Zack who followed behind closely. Before she could say anything Zack embraced her, a moment he didn't wish to end. Aerith was overwhelmed by the twisted fate that was just revealed to her, fought back the tears that filled her eyes. She was Glad that what the life stream had told her was wrong…Zack had died.

Aerith was the first one to speak "Zack…I…I thought you were de…I mean" she stammered breaking the intimate situation and taking a step back. Aerith spoke once more "I thought you'd never come back" and gave Zack a faint smile. She was about to speak again when Zack silenced her lips with his own, she was surprised at first….but didn't't care anymore, for he was alive.

Breaking the kiss, Zack had finally done it and his mind was in bliss for as long as it lasted. His heart was about to explode, but hey…..what do you do when you haven't seen your girlfriend for 4 years. Aerith was surprised but equally glad and also very curious to how Zack was still alive…after all, the planet always spoke the truth to her. Zack tried to speak, but he didn't know what to say as he stammered "I…I…wanted to" Placing a finger on Zack's lips to silence him, Aerith asked "So..? Did you get my letter?"

Finding the words to reply, Zack said "Yes…yes I did" sighing he continued "Look I'm sorry…I know it's been 4 years and…..and Shinra never sent me a damn thing because…" he fell silent….doubting himself over the the fact that she could've hated and feared Shinra. Aerith pulled him closer into another hug, surprising him a bit. Speaking in her usual calm voice Aerith whispered to Zack "I know… Mr.1st class…..and it's ok, i'm not afraid of you" Zack was dumb struck; she knew his true identity yet she didn't hate him for it. He returned her hug, finally shedding a single tear that he quickly wiped before Aerith would notice.

Noticing several bruises on Zack's body and that his clothes were beyond repair, also dry blood and bullet holes decorated his uniform, she was now indeed very curious to how he was alive. Walking towards the door holding Zack's hand, she asked "Tell me what happened to you" giving Zack a worried look she continued "And I'm getting you some new clothes too!" she pouted and lighting up his mood with her favorite smile, Zack replied "Alright….it's been a while that we had a walk together, let's go to that play ground near the scrap yard, I'll tell you on the way"

***time skip***

**The next friggin day**

**8:00 am**

Silent was the room in which Clay lay. The only soul with him was that of Tifa Lockheart, she sat by his bed at the inn's room. Arriving early that morning, she wanted to check up on Clay who was carried to his room by Zack the other night.

Though Clay had gotten another taste of Aerith's healing magic last night, pain was still coursing through his body; it pulsed from the tip of his toes till his temples like multiple dwarves hammering and forging an ancient World Of Warcraft sword….and he was the anvil. Trying to keep his mind off the agony, his mind shifted through different theories of which were related to the Tai Chi technique he tried to perform last night...in the end, it was just a matter of practice. A few more attempts and he wouldn't need to concentrate that hard just to pull off such a move...a move that his father was very proficient at.

Tifa broke the silence startling him a bit, she said "So ...what are you day dreaming about?" Clay turned his stiff neck to his side and saw Tifa sitting next to him by the bed, her legs crossed and her arms on the table with one hand supporting her chin looking like she was about to die of boredom. Clay noticed her presence for a while since he woke up, though he didn't bother to speak to her...and again it's not that he was angry...he was in no mood for a conversation….or was he?.

Falling silent to her statement, Clay decided to get up to do some damage assessment. He struggled to move his damaged muscles, though for some reason he felt like they weren't even damaged **(Because it's medically almost impossible to move injured muscles)** yet pain registered throughout his body. Sitting upright after denying Tifa's help once more, Clay flexed his hands, arms and legs, pressing multiple muscles to check their condition and occasionally massaging them. He was right, there is no damage, only pain...only pain.

"Weird..." Clay mumbled to himself, making Tifa raise an eyebrow. She asked "what's weird?" Ignoring her question he asked his own "Where's Aerith?" Tifa recognized the name but was too frustrated by his attitude. She decided to just get to the main reason to why she's here in the first place. "Look this isn't a social visit ok?" She said plainly, trying to hide some frustration. Clay answered almost immediately "Oh it isn't?" Now feeling a bit mischievous despite his condition, he continued "Well of course I don't suppose you came here just to see my handsome face now did you?" Rolling her eyes in disbelief she asked "Are you really injured?"

His humor kicked in once more as he replied "Now that you mentioned it, i still am...hey if you kiss me maybe my headache will go away" Tifa faced palmed while mumbling "Unbelievable...just unbelievable" Clay added "Unbelievable? Oh...i'm flattered, really... Mines not that big, average i must say" nodding to himself, while Tifa gave a really really big sigh. With that said she gave up, deciding to leave, Tifa stopped momentarily by the door and spoke without looking at him "I got another job for you...if you're interested, come by the bar tomorrow at noon" and left the room immediately.

Hearing what she said, his expression changed and he dropped his playfulness immediately, Clay knew she was going to ask him to work in AVALANCHE, not that he wasn't glad for the damn invitation after all he needed to make sure Zack works for them in order to get to Sephiroth. He remembered the incident that followed clearly...Mako reactor...bombing...plate dropping...lots of people dying.

"Damn!" Clay cursed himself, he knew of the upcoming tragedy and he couldn't care less. Reminding himself that he was just here to help the planet end its miserable cycle, he was no saint.

Though he felt compelled to do something for the first time in his life, Clay wondered if this was what Minerva talked about. Was he really losing his humanity? Has he started to neglect other people's lives to save his own or was he like this from the start? He had just burned an entire camp of people yesterday...did he fell any remorse?...none. Was he too blind to see how selfish it was for him to save Zack, just so he could fight Sephiroth again? So he wouldn't face that man himself?

Surely he wasn't at fault if someone's fate was known to him and he didn't do anything about it. All those years on earth, everything he had done was based on impulse, never in his life was he ever in a situation in which he knew when a person was about to live or die.

Clay brainstormed himself, _"what would father say?"_ Clay thought and only one word came to his mind ...COWARD. True he was one and he sure damn felt like one, nothing in his life prepared him for this, but he made up his mind now. Remembering the reason why he accepted Minerva's offer in the first place...his fighting spirit was empty, hollow. Nothing intrigued him to fight on like this; he had no purpose, goal or moral. Clay fought day and night back on earth against odds, but for what? To live his father's legacy and attain his title once more?...that's right he choose to accept Minerva's proposal so he can be the best at what he does, maybe even be a legend of his own...one that would define martial arts in a whole new level.

If he lived long enough to do it...

* * *

Living beneath his father's shadow his entire life, Clay wanted to break free for once, cast his own dice and weave his own threads of fate.

Finally coming to terms with himself, he lost track of time. Slowly getting up, Clay walked over by the window and peered out. He guessed that it was about 10 in the morning while wondering where in Midgar is he, he also noticed someone outside the inn. It was Zack and Cloud; he watched them walk into the inn.

_"Perfect"_ Clay thought and picked up his trench coat which was folded neatly on the table by Tifa no doubt. He searched the drawers to find his titanium gauntlet, somewhat battered up even though he barely used it, the thought of buying a new weapon crossed his mind; he ought to consult Zack on that first. Checking for his syringes Clay headed out of the room; surprisingly his pain had subsided almost completely...almost. With sector 7's tragedy still in mind, Clay decided that he would just need to improvise something.

Stepping into the hallway, Clay spotted Cloud, now different attire, he was closely inspecting his new sword, it also seems like he had fully recovered from the Mako addiction syndrome. Not recognizing the sword obviously, he left his curiosity behind and noticed Zack who was chatting with the owner of the small inn, he also noticed his new clothes, wearing a dark blue T-shirt underneath a black sweat jacket, followed by a black and slightly longer version of any cargo shorts. Zack noticed Clay and immediately greeted him from across the lobby "Hey...how're you feeling?" Clay laughed a bit while walking towards Zack, he cracked his neck and said bluntly "Very stiff…." Zack chuckled and replied "Yeah you looked worse yesterday, we can talk later….Let's go"

Sensing some trouble in his voice Clay asked "Why the hurry?" not knowing he was actually in an inn from the upper plate of Midgar. Zack responded "Well Shinra is still looking for my ass….and yours too; the upper plate is not safe for us"

Clay understood the situation, but then a thought struck him so he asked "Hey Zack? Did you carry me all the way to the inn?" Zack smirked at the question and from his body language he was clearly saying **NO SHIT**. Zack paid for the service, and proceeded out into the road of Midgar. It was a busy morning no doubt; cars and people populated the streets. Zack spoke up "Alright, morning shift just ended we need to move fast before the next batch comes in" With that the group made their way to the lower elements, while avoiding small patrols of Shinra. They maneuvered with ease thanks to the fact that both Cloud and Zack knew the schedules and position of Shinra well, for obvious reasons…Cloud being an infantry before and Zack a senior officer.

Arriving shortly between sector 4 and 5, Zack slowed down their pace when they approached the maintenance elevator to take them to the lower plate, Clay took the opportunity to speak to him "So….what are you guys going to do now that you're out of Shinra?" Still walking Zack replied "well Cloud and I were going to open a jack of all trades company….unless you have a better idea"

Glancing at Cloud who was silent the entire time and back to Zack, he then offered "Well that *nice* lady you met yesterday, had another job for me"

Catching the attention of Cloud, he finally spoke "Wait….Tifa asked you too?"

Pulling a sarcastic face Clay replied "You can speak?! Oh…and nice sword by the way"

"Why what's wrong Cloud?...you sound surprised" added Zack who was equally interested.

Cloud seemed reluctant to speak, but decided that he owed Clay some explanation for saving him and Zack as well….for obvious reason. He said "Tifa asked me, to work for her too, some organization that are against Shinra, they go by the name AVALANCHE"

Clay acted like he was surprised by the news; he then leaned closer to Zack and said in a low voice "I think you should join too…."

"Yeah…maybe I should, after all this could be a good way to get our business started eh? Mercenary work doesn't sound too bad right" said Zack who turned to Cloud for his confirmation.

Cloud couldn't argue much, even if he could. Zack was his friend and mentor, he wouldn't mind following in the footsteps of the man that looked after him not to mention dragged his ass half way across the planet.

Somehow he was still intrigued and shocked when he learned about what happened, sure enough he could see and remember bits and pieces of when Zack fought to protect him, but when he recovered and finally woke up… it all felt like a bad dream, like he was back in Midgar working under Shinra again….like nothing ever happened. Making up his mind, Cloud knew it was all true, especially what happened yesterday…..which brings his thoughts to this stranger in front of him…Clay.

"Okay wait….before we go ahead with this conversation, I really wanted to ask you something" confessed Cloud. Clay replied with no hesitation "Go ahead, shoot"

Eyeing him closely Cloud asked "Who are you exactly?"

He didn't need to explain himself again, so Clay just redirected "Didn't your girlfriend tell you that already?" Cloud twitched at the word **girlfriend**.

Not missing a beat he replied "Yes she did, and it's her version of the story that proves my point….so I'll ask you again… Who are you?"

Zack was about to speak but was stoped by Clay who raised his hand to stop him, "Why what's wrong with her version of the story?" asked Clay.

Cloud being the skeptical person in this conversation responded "Why did you lie to her? You told her that she was unconscious when you brought her to Midgar, Zangan did that not you! And you weren't even in Nibelheim when…..when Sephiroth….tch" He couldn't finish, as the memories of his hometown's destruction filled his mind.

Grief would take him nowhere; Clay already had his fair share of it, so before things got too much out of hand he asked "And so you told her the truth?"

Looking away from Clay, Cloud answered "No…not yet"

Crossing his arms Clay added "Well good! Because I sure hope I didn't drag my injured ass all the way into the middle of nowhere to save an ungrateful pretty boy, who can't even make it into the **SOLDIER** program!"

Clearly catching him off guard, Cloud was in no position to argue with the point, true he failed to keep his promise to Tifa and join SOLDIER….so he just gritted his teeth and asked "Did…did you..?"

Not letting him finish, Clay already knew the answer to his incomplete question and said "No…I didn't tell her….yet"

Clay knew that his methods were dirty…..but he's no saint. Usually the hard truth is the best way to make a person feel bad, always have been. He grew up on it.

Zack sensed the tension rising in the group, deciding to stop the conversation before it could escalate any further, he spoke up "Okay!...uhh Cloud the lift is here, you can go now, me and Clay need to go look for some weapons and new material" Cloud was about to argue but Zack knew his friend well and added "Don't worry, Shinra won't find us…I know a good place"

Still skeptical about Clay but also not wanting to proceed with this situation, he stepped onto the lift and disappeared down into the lower elements.

"That was bit harsh don't you think?" pointed out Zack who was rubbing his forehead and feeling another headache building up. Looking away Clay answered "It's also the best way to learn…..see from your own mistakes and improve, not being a bitch and whine about it right?"

He then smiled a bit and confessed "Sorry….bad habit of mines" Clay then crossed his arms and put on a curious look and asked "Hey Zack? How did you know?"

Clearly not knowing what Clay was talking about, Zack replied "Know what?"

Doing an exaggerated shrug Clay said "You know what I'm talking about….how did you know I needed to buy a new weapon"

Surprised at the coincidence, Zack admitted "Oh you did? That was just an excuse to get you to stop talking"

"Yeah i knew that!" Replied Clay while inspecting his own gauntlet, Clay knew that it was definitely sloppy work. The titanium frame was getting loose. Moreover its leather material was not built for such hard work, and soon the straps that held the metal and glove together would fail. Turning back to Zack, he said "Well then let's make the most of our time"

Zack agreed, beside he needed sometime alone with the Eurasian man, for the questions in his head was killing him from the inside out.

***A few friggin moments later***

Arriving shortly at the bustling sector 6's wall market, Clay had learned his way around the Midgar slum pretty well now, no thanks to anyone but himself for getting lost multiple times.

The duo had approached the weapons shop with silence between them, both lost in their own personal interest. Clay was preoccupied checking out and somewhat admiring the environment, it reminded him of the streets in Thailand, namely a place called Pattaya. He doubt that it's night life was any different, remembering his play boy Muay Thai teacher. This would be his master's hunting ground for operation Casanova...Clay thought, grinning at the memory.

Zack on the other hand was too busy being paranoid, he was checking the area for any signs of Shinra. Quiet normal if you give it a thought, it normally happens when a fetish for power billionaire company chases you across the planet, constantly trying to kill you by shoving their guns up your ass...totally normal.

Breaking the seal of silence was Clay, who asked "Are they usually this many people in the morning...it's like what... eleven?"

The former SOLDIER answered "Yeah, you're right...there could be undercover Shinra operatives here" While stopping to glare at every passing stranger. Zack's reply granted Clay an auto face palm.

"Dude…Chill out for a second, Shinra dosen't give two shits for people in the slums, they won't send people down here all the time, you told me that yourself...well maybe except for the Turks that try to take Aerith then yeah..." proclaimed Clay, who was convinced that Zack needed some counseling.

Zack turned to face Clay to prove his own point, only to find himself ignored as he entered the weapon's shop. He sighed and followed Clay closely, while dropping the argument entirely.

The interior smelled of grease, oil and stagnant metal, no surprise there. However, there was a line of about 5 people leading up to the shopkeeper. Clay approached Zack and asked "they do have fighting gloves…. right?" Clearly not trusting his own memory.

"Of course they do, if not then you can always use something else" said Zack rubbing his chin, then adding " You good with a blade?" The obvious answer was no, so shaking his head in denial Clay continued to look around the shop for something he could use, while waiting for the customers to die down a bit.

A brief moment later

Clay approached the shopkeeper who was looking quiet happy, the amount of customers he had today was the reason no doubt. Zack was right behind him, having some business of his own with the owner.

Clay inquired "You got any light weight Gauntlets...and no not normal gloves/gauntlets"

Immediately pointing at some of the leather gloves hanging about, Clay assumed that those were just accessory, then continued "i'm talking about something i can use to fight"

"Sure! I got this new merchandise sleeping in stock for a long time, no one really buys gauntlets around here, I was going to throw it away because everyone keeps asking for swords, guns ,bigger swords , and bigger guns...Damn!" Said the man with enthusiasm while giving Zack a glance, he then disappeared behind the counter and appeared again with a box in hand.

Opening it up, he revealed a pair of maroon colored gloves, a strange type of metal was embedded along the knuckles, diamond shape. Multiple thin plates of the same metal ran across the back hand all the way to the wrist. He then handed Clay the right hand piece to try on. Clay was immediately surprised by the toughness of the metal and it's light weight despite it's heavy looks, he quickly asked "what type of metal is this?"

Smiling, the owner replied "made from a 100 percent pure mithril" Zack butted in and said "hey old man, you got my order done yet?" Recognizing Zack, he immediately went to fetch for a huge package wrapped in cloth, while Clay counted the **Gil **bills he had on him.

After handing Zack the huge item the owner continued his description "The leather is from **Vlakorados **skin….very exotic" nodding to himself as Clay tested its weight again.

Impressed, Clay asked "How much?" the older man thought for a moment and said "Well…I had that in stock for almost a year now, don't think anyone will buy it soon…so it's your lucky day…..how about 1500 Gil"

Zack twitched as he heard the price, he leaned towards Clay and said "daaaaaaaaamn" but the bigger surprise came from Clay as he said "Ok, here you go"

With his eyes almost popping out, Zack eyeballed the Gils handed to the shopkeeper from Clay, Zack left the shop with his jaws hanging. He then stopped Clay and asked "Ok….what's your secret" lifting an eyebrow Clay repeated "My secret?"

"Yeah…YOUR SECRET…..how do you spend so much and not look like a homeless hobo?" proclaimed Zack, who was now very curious. Clay however was not surprised by the question and answered "Can I tell you over breakfast, I'm really hungry" while grinning.

***At the sector 6 diner***

The breakfast was…well fast; partly because Clay was a quick eater (he however didn't like the habit). He explained to Zack over his meal of the days he spent at the Shinra camp disguised as a soldier and how he pickpocket some of them during their sleep, scratching that little itch of curiosity that Zack had. As they were about to leave Zack had one last question.

"Was it true...that I died?" Zack asked changing the tone in his voice, while bracing for an answer. Chuckling at the question Clay replied "Oh it's true alright…and fucked up" reminding himself of their conversation last night when he revealed *some* of his secret. Clay fought back the temptation of saying _"Everything went to hell after you died" _

Rubbing his forehead, Zack said "So if I did die…. what happens then?" while gritting his teeth in curiosity. Taking a sip off the glass of water Clay answered with little hesitation "What happens?...I'll tell you what happened, shit happened" Leaning a bit over the table and closer to Zack, Clay whispered "You think you're strong enough to protect the people you care about?" leaning back he said with hesitation "people...like Aerith"

Finding the question irrelevant Zack said "Yeah of course I'm strong, why do you ask?"

Clay wore a grim face as he pondered for a while, then replied "Because I sure hope in hell you fucking are…..cuz when **Masamune** pierces through her body…..I ain't gonna be there to say…shit happens"

* * *

END

Author's note

Sorry for the harshness but that's how Clay is, I updated his profile for his personality and skills including the specific type of martial arts he currently uses.

Also the weapon I got for him was a modified version of the Mithril Claw, costing quiet high in the starting of the game 750 gil….so yeah I guess 1500 is pretty high for now _.

Thank you all for reading and remember Reviews are cheeseburgers. Tasty.


	5. Chapter 5 Calm before storm is it?

A better chapter in terms of writing (I hope)

Disclaimer!...I ain't own none of this shit…..Final fantasy and any other gaming references belong to their respecting IP owners. FF7 is owned by Square Enix and not me.

Spare me the court order.

**Bold are …..Important stuff/techniques/limit breaks/ spells/ ice cream sandwiches and Cheese Cakes**

_Italics are thoughts/voices/Whispers/Sean Connery narrating/ Morgan freeman speaking_

No pairings for OC yet…not planning to. However suggestions are welcomed and will be considered.

Just so you know for those of you who haven't read my OC profile yet…he can also speak a type of Indo-European language from Armenia.

* * *

**Chapter 5:- Calm before storm...is it?**

**Sector 6**

**Diner**

**11:30 am**

Life as we know it can be unforgiving, a gift and a curse which we somehow accept…. but is the fact that knowing your fate to be complete bullshit and fucked up... really fair at all?

No ….it wasn't.

Not at all

As of this moment, the world threw barrages of question at Zack, with his mind barely keeping up. He tried hard to create rational ideas that would keep him sane for the moment. Oh how it failed miserably…..

His eyes rose up from the wooden table from where his fingers were dug deep into, he didn't even notice that he had been clenching the side of the furniture for a while now. Switching his focus on the man before him, he swallowed hard and licked his dry lips.

The man that that sat before him sensed the mental war in the ex-SOLDER's head, this man named "Clay",watched the ex-SOLDIER with contemplating eyes, while his heart was filled by a fog of guilt. Had he done the right thing? Was it too early to say as such?

A certain cowardice overcame him once again, he couldn't stand looking at a man who was shell shocked by the news of his friend's death, or at least a death-to-be.

Breaking his gaze, Clay got up and strode away from the diner. He stopped momentarily by the entrance, returning his sights to the Ex-SOLDIER. He just saw Zack sitting there….not moving, portraying no emotions, but Clay knew of the storm brewing in his head.

Trying to keep his mind off the incident, once again he let his thoughts wander aimlessly.

The life that Zack went through was formidably tougher than Clay, no doubt about that…. though he could relate.

Clay was once frozen in a comatose state for a very long time. Waking up to find all his family and friends gone…either disappeared, dead, or old. He was the only one that was young and **alive**….technically he should be 61 years old instead of 25 by now…if not for his father.

Walking through the streets of Sector 6, his train of thoughts flew through the roof but somehow always coming back to the thought of Zack...he could have loathed him for telling him such a harsh thing, or would he forever distrust Clay for proclaiming Aerith's death, especially if he had just seen her alive and well...although he didn't mind being hated, Clay just preferred a bit of trust in a world he didn't belong to.

By the time his train of thoughts ended, he found himself at the scrap yard once more, it was here where Tifa had sneaked up on him, causing him to be wounded pretty badly in a freak accident..…he could have died if not for Aerith, Clay mumbled to himself "Great, just great" he hated owing someone.

The scene was burned into his mind and became an undying memory...or more like a trauma. The area that was riddled with nothing but junk was a milestone that he would carry within his pride for a long time**(some martial artist likes to re-visit areas where they had mastered or gained a new skill)**.

Mistake not, he didn't hate the place, but he loathed the fact that it was here...on Gaia, a place where he won't be able to return...Assuming he survive the things to come.

His thoughts leaped to a **shattered ****memory **at the back of his mind, he was trying to make ends with a feeling that spawned from that certain memory. It was awe, no it was more than that. He felt the same when he first met Minerva, it was great beauty, sublimity and might combined. However these lingering feeling were to no man or woman, strangely enough...it was an ability. Aerith's healing touch.

His mind was in pieces, broken by pain and disoriented. Then came that same energy that pulsed into him, like a tide that washed over his body and healed him. He held his head high when it came to martial arts, his hoped that his pride would suffer no change due to his new found interest in the subject of "Magic".

But there it is again…..Aerith. The name popped into his mind once more...

Before proceeding into a deep melancholic state of thinking, he heard a man running towards him. Turning around, it was none other than Zack without his sword, who quickly caught Clay by the shoulders, surprising him a bit.

"WHO?..Told YOU such a thing?!" Zack growled while firmly holding Clay by the shoulders. "WHO….who…Was it Shinra that wanted Aerith? HUH!?" Fighting back a tear and clenching his hands tighter which caused Clay to wince in pain under the strong grip of the SOLDIER's Mako enhanced strength.

Clay struggled to break him away, resorting to a little force to push him away without harm. Zack Stumbled back, with his eyes lost in limbo.

A single tear finally shed from his eye, he said "How dare they…say such a thing!...Why would anyone want to kill her?!" Zack shouted in rage and sorrow.

Clay observed Zack's state, right now he was no SOLDIER, just a doubtful man…..hell bent on finding some truth. All the years of military training shredded in such a moment.

Replying bluntly with his own question "Who killed Aerith?" shaking his head, Clay continued "You don't seem to believe me, and yet you speak…. as if my facts are true"

"No I ...if you know who…then TELL ME NOW!" shouted Zack with red eyes.

Taken back by the sudden outburst, pondered "_Damn…love can do wonders to a man, no surprise there"_

"Hey I'm the civilian, you're the soldier. You should know the answer better than me" said Clay rubbing his shoulder where Zack caught him.

"Don't play games with me CLAY!" growled Zack, who was getting very agitated by his attitude.

Sure enough, Clay didn't give a shit as he replied "What would you do if I told you? Stick your sword up the guy's ass hoping to make yourself feel better?"

"**Shut Up!"**

Zack had lost it in that moment, lunging at Clay with his fist cocked back, kicking up a trail of dust in his wake but Zack was no doubt the faster of the 2 men. With Mako enhancing his speed, it was indeed formidable. Catching Clay off guard with out his **Ryuusei Seikuken **at the ready. He was clearly not expecting such a reaction…but he somewhat knew what his words can do.

The martial artist had barely covered his face with his forearm, in an attempt to guard and weave in the direction of Zack's punch, hoping to minimize the damage. The ex-SOLDIER's fist reached its mark nonetheless, punching Clay's arm and slipping past to hit his jaw at the same time, in other words… he broke his guard like a sledgehammer hitting a Mac computer.

To Clay, his attacker's knuckles felt like iron, almost crushing his jaw if not….fracturing it.

The huge swing made the shorter man fling to the ground, landing on his side 5 meters away from the point of contact.

With a faint smile on his bloody lips, Clay slowly rolled over and got up while wiping his jaw and feeling a sharp pain pulsing from it. Giving Zack a quick look, he played a little scenario in his head. A devilish smile drew across his face and one that he hadn't had for 40 years.

Zack was breathing heavily as he looked at Clay with maddening eyes.

The Earthling readied himself by getting into a right handed South paw stance and shouted "Look at you, you call yourself a SOLDIER!?"

"Shut it!" Zack barked as he ran at Clay for another massive punch.

Under normal circumstances, which meant if Zack's fighting ability was known by his opponents, they would've raised the white flag already. The Armenian man was normal no less, but he knew that Zack was still a human too...besides, this opportunity was too good to pass up, even tough Zack was a super soldier.

"_Close enough"_ Clay thought, as he braced himself.

With his mind clouded, Zack was an easy target to someone who spent their entire life to precision. So like a mad bull, Zack charged forward with his right arm cocked back to once again, deliver a massive hay maker.

With one fist holding guard, Clay took a quick half step, and jabbed without any power but with great speed, via his right hand. With his arm fully extended, hitting nothing but air. But he didn't miss, he just made sure his fist was in the right place a split second before Zack reached him.

What happened next went like this. Imagine an unstoppable bullet train hitting an Iron battering ram that was fixed on its track, ready to impale it.

**"Taiho Shouha!" (History strongest Disciple) horizontal version **

Using Zack's large momentum to his advantage, Clay's bare fist (No he's not wearing the Mithril glove right now) smashed the SOLDIER's face straight on, almost breaking his nose if not for his extreme toughness.

It was as simple as using your arm as a pole to just stick out, so the opponent's momentum can do its work.

However, even while counter-attacking as such, Mako was without doubt a very strong factor. Clay's extended arm deflected to the side immediately after impact, pushed away by Zack's charge. If he had kept his arms straight, his bones would have been crushed. On the other hand, Zack felt the consequences of being too rash and stumbled sideways, whizzing past Clay and almost crashing into him.

Trying to recover from the counter, Zack tried to regain his balance from such an accurate punch. He spun around while in motion, causing him trip and fall clumsily.

Seeing his opponent down for the moment…mind you, a moment. Clay clutched his right fist and cursed in 3 different languages as an unbearable pain pulsed through his nerves.

Still clenching his injured fist, Clay hadn't expected such a quick response from Zack as he got up. Trying to stall him, Clay spoke under his breath "Angeal! *Hufff*….What would he say?...huh!?" which caused Zack to stop for a moment.

Getting the desired effect from Zack, Clay continued "He would be ashamed I tell you….ha!*Huffs-puff* That's right…. your mentor would be **ashamed **to see you like this**…**"

*WOOSH!*

The air blew into Clay's face, he didn't know what caused it. But he knew this…. Zack was supposed to be 6 meters in front of him…..Not an inch away from smashing his abdomen.

"Reverse **Kaihou!"(street fighter) ** Clay performed it out of panic, he used the foot technique to quickly dash back away from his opponent, rendering Zack to swing at nothing but air.

"_SHIt..shit..Shiiit! he got faster?!" _Clay thought as he crashed his back into a broken car in the middle of the scrap yard prompting a pile of dust to fog up..

"FUCK!" Clay cursed again as he ducked under a very fast thrust kick albeit the poor visibility, crushing the roof of the rusted car behind him. Crawling away, Clay slipped and fell, he skittered and stumbled forward in fear of such brute strength.

**But he wasn't running away. **

Rising from the ruble of metal, Zack spoke "You…you know about Angeal too?"

Holding his right hand with the other, Clay replied "No shit….. would anything else surprise you?"

The unexpected happened, Zack just…sat. In the middle of broken car, he just sat.

"Yeah, he would be ashamed…" Zack said in a low voice as he assessed himself.

"_This isn't who I am" _Zack thought.

Realizing his mistake, Zack looked up to see Clay panting away while muttering something in a language he didn't understand.

"Tell me….." Zack muttered out, avoiding Clay's constant gaze and continued "When she died, where was I?"

"You were dead already" Clay said spitting out some blood and spoke again "You were supposed to go down on that cliff"

Getting off the car Zack asked "I see, assuming what you say is true…that means…I can prevent her from dying too…right?" his mind was filled with thoughts of his precious friend.

"Why the fuck do you think I went through all the trouble to drag your ass out of that cluster fuck huh?" Clay barked back, getting a little pissed now. He added "That was a friggin suicide attempt, anyone in the right mind would know that!"

Getting off the crushed car, Zack looked at Clay and said "I…I'm really …..I'm sorry, and…tha-" dropping his head in guilt.

"Thank me later" Clay replied again bluntly, while charging towards Zack. He spun his body in a jump, delivering a single taekwondo hurricane kick. Surprising the former SOLDIER, however...Zack quickly ducked under the wide swing of Clay's foot.

"What are you doing?!" Zack called, while evading a couple of very sharp jabs that barley missed his face.

Catching Zack by his collar Clay snarled back "You raise a fist against a martial artist...You gotta be ready to honor his code!" and pushed him back again. Changing his stance to Muay Thai, Clay eyed the ex-SOLDIER and said "**Your** pride isn't the only thing that needs to be protected"

The words made his mouth gape, Zack expected none of such words from the man before him. Was he always this type of person? _With such a conviction and standards_? _What was going through this man's head?_

"But your hurt…SHIIIIT!" Zack cursed under his breath while blocking a very heavy Muay Thai round house kick to the face and immediately took a few steps back to ready his guard. Then, closing the distance between them, Zack tried to grapple him straight on, only to be met by Clay's knee, hitting his temples straight on. With his head ringing Zack fell back on his ass.

Rising up into the air from the upward knee thrust, Clay came down forcing all his weight into a chop **Tenma Shuretto! (Street fighter X Tekken, Akuma's cross art)****, **only to find nothing but the hard ground which shook under his palm as he transferred his Ki onto the hard soil.

With his toughness and speed, Zack had already recovered and side stepped next to Clay while he was still in the air, raising his leg to bomb down an axe kick similar to that of taekwondo, Clay could do nothing but block, causing him to fall into a crouching position under the impact.

His wrist felt like there were a thousand needles plucked into it. Not so surprising if you try to stop such a devastating kick with your bare hands and wrist. Still under the weight of the kick, he felt the ground beneath him sink under the force.

Managing to brush the attacker's foot aside with a small burst of Ki in his legs, which still felt like lifting a ton of iron, Clay quickly rose up and grabbed Zack in a Muay Thai clinch, followed up by multiple knees to his abdomen. Even though he doubted if each hit had any effect at all, Clay continued his strikes until he felt the SOLDIER's grip tighten around his waist.

To Clay's surprise, his body was lifted off the ground and before he knew it, Zack had caught him in a bear hug and swung him to the side. Zipping through the air, he landed a good 10 meters away from Zack, rolling on the floor to conserve some momentum.

"**նրա****մարմինը կոշտ****, ****ինչպես****պողպատ !" **Clay mumbled in his native language out of habit(Armenian Indo-European). Tiered, but with his mind set, Clay rose up once more and prepared for one last strike.

Seeing his opponent recover, Zack readied for another onslaught. He trotted towards Clay, but carefully. Not wanting to repeat his mistake again. With his eyes focusing on every movement of the young Armenian man, Zack covered the distance while concentrating the Mako that coursed through him, gathering in his fist and forming the trademark blue air like substance which was resonating through his skin.

The wind swirled, but not from the response of his Mako, it shifted away from Clay instead, turbulent and heavy. He too was also observing Zack's every step as he approached. He readied his body for the large amount of strain that the next technique was about to inflict. True that practice makes perfect, and true that he had an immense amount of expendable Ki, but it's not the question of power….it's control.

Like a chess masters, on the brink of assuming an infinite amount of possible consequences. Clay's world came to a halt, for in his minds no sound was processed despite the howling wind and with his sights heightened to maximum, as he concentrated on Zack, blocking out any other external distractions. Unbeknownst to Clay, the emblem that Minerva embedded on his forehead had started to radiate in a muddy red aura every time he used his Ki.

**"Sei Shin Suikyou** **shou!" also called "Penetrating Water Surface Palm" ****(History strongest disciple)**

"**Braver smash!" (This limit break is for the fist, instead of cloud's Normal "Braver")**

Zack's fist came forward like a meteor, on a track for destruction, aiming at Clay's body. His opponent, Clay had only brought his palm forward near his chest moving slower than Zack. His speed seemed out match Clay, though he wondered why his opponent's palm was resonating with a faint red aura but it didn't matter at the moment.

Dodging was not an option, so what was?

Fight fire with fire.

And so both parties braced for impact. Delivering his own payload, Zack landed the Mako infused punch straight onto Clay's solar plexus causing a Mako shock-wave to pulse through creating a ripples of blue energy that pushed back the air and kicked up the small debris. On the other hand (Literally) Clay, having his palm thrust forward together in a push like motion, his palm made contact on Zack chest a mere mili-second after ex-SOLDIER's attack and felt his new found Ki bursting through his hands into circular motion spreading out from Zack's body.

***SMACK* *WOOOOOOOSH***

The **"Sei Shin Suikyou Shou"** was a palm strike infused with the user's Ki…. in order to create an incredible push force in each hand.

Serving the purpose well, the technique launched the ex-SOLDIER backward and into the air a good 30 meters, leaving a trail of red Ki energy, until he crashed into a pile of metal rubble behind him

Despite the description, the entire attack for both parties took only 2.154 seconds.

Clutching his chest and abdomen, where Zack's punch had landed, Clay found it a chore to breath. His mind was running out of oxygen, and his chest was burning with Mako. Almost dropping to his knees the same time Zack landed his back on the ground in front of him, Clay stumbled towards his opponent, but fell to the ground face first as he approached him…slowly clinging on to his last thread of consciousness.

A long moment of silence had passed, but the two men lay motionless as the wind died down. With no one around, it may seem like two corpses waiting to decay. But if you look closely, one of them, particularly the one with the red shirt…..was smiling.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"So….arghh!…fuck! It even hurts to talk" Clay groaned, flipping over to face the metal plate above him.

"Take it easy, you just got hit by one of my guns" said Zack while grinning to himself and also laying on the ground.

"Oh, please" spitted Clay, who was now thinking. _"Did he win or lose?"_

"It's a tie, if that's what you're wondering….but" replied Zack, reading Clay's mind.

"But what?" Clay asked.

"I went easy on you"

"Fuck you!"

"No, I'm serious"

"Oh really?"

"Yes I did"

"No you didn't"

"Yes I did!"

"No you didn't!"

"Yes I did!"

"Oh you wanna go!?"

"I can do this all day asshole!"

***BAM!***

* * *

**Next day**

**Sector 7**

**11:30 am**

There was a knock on the 7th heaven's door and after a few minutes, Tifa opened it to see two men waiting outside.

"Oh…. you're early, you know you could've just walked *long pause*….In?" pausing momentarily as she noticed something peculiar about the 2 men before her. She spoke again "Wow….what happened to you guys?"

Waving his hand in dismissal Clay walked in while saying "Uhh…. I fell off the stairs" and rubbed his left cheek where there were 2 bandages across it and another on his nose.

Similarly, Zack paced in slowly with his hands in his pocket and slumping his back slightly, like he hadn't got a good night sleep. His fore head had a small bump on it, and there was a purple area next to his left eye.

Almost smiling, Tifa asked "And what's your story lover boy?"

Sitting on the bar stool and placing his head on the counter, Zack replied with no enthusiasm "sigh…Bar fight"

Laughing to herself now, Tifa couldn't care less about what happened to the two men, but she was clearly amused by the situation. She then said "Help yourself to some potions behind the counter if you need any, I'll be right back" and disappeared up the stairs, leaving behind Clay who was also slumped on one of the tables, with his fist raised up, giving a small thumbs up to her statement without looking, once again with little to no life and enthusiasm in his actions at all.

Lifting up his head, Zack turned to his accomplice. He gave himself a minute before asking "Aren't you scared?"

With his head still down, Clay's reply was muffled "Scared?...of what exactly?"

"You know, this whole business… you're just a delivery guy right? Why are you doing this?" Zack said in a low voice, remembering his own foolish dream of becoming a hero and what it had brought upon him, betrayal, sadness and depression. He wanted to know what this man who was a total stranger hold as his pride and why had he done such favor for him.

His personality portrayed of a carefree, average Joe working in Midgar but his words and actions spoke differently.

Remembering his conversation the other day at the same spot where they sat now. Clay had proclaimed himself as a person who can see the future, Clairvoyance he called. He then said something about multi universe existing in parallel to one another, totally smearing shit at laws of physics (quote from Clay)

But now, here he is again with doubts over himself of such myths.

"You wanna know the truth?" Clay answered, in which Zack's silence meant another "**NO SHIT".**

"Oh I'm scared alright, I'm scared shitless" continued Clay who laughed at himself. He added "I'm a fucking coward too, that's what I am" he gave a small sigh and added something he wouldn't have said if not for his new resolve "but a coward can try"

Raising a brow, Zack quickly replied "I never knew a coward could challenge a SOLDIER, what you said yesterday…"

His sentence was cut off by Clay's laugh, which prompt another question from Zack "what's so funny?"

Clay replied with discontent "Zack, why do you speak of me so casually?"

Confused but also sensing that this would lead on to a better understanding of this man, Zack answered "What's wrong with that?"

"You have no idea….do you?" said Clay, gritting his teeth and felt his anger rise, then added "Can't you see what I did to save myself! You should be hating me, loathing me with all your might!"

Turning around to face the ex-SOLDIER Clay spoke once more "I used you...If I knew about future, and ….and the entire cluster fucks of events that are going to happen, I didn't want to face it!"

Looking straight into Zack's eyes he ended by saying "I could've let you died on that cliff! I couldn't care less of your fate or your friends or family! What kept you alive was not my act of HEROISM!" looking away Clay said his last words in shame "It was my selfish need to survive"

After a pause, he continued "I was afraid to face it, that's why I saved you….so you could do it instead of me…Can't…..can't you see how selfish I am right n…."

"But you **DID **save me….." Zack said bluntly while looking into Clay's maroon eyes.

"I.." he started but couldn't finish as Zack continued his rant.

"You think I wasn't scared when I went against my own comrades, Angeal, Sephiroth and Genesis? I wanted to run, but it didn't feel right…." Said Zack, trying to make sense of this man, while wondering why Clay degrades himself so much?

"That's because you needed to find the truth!" intervened Clay.

"Whatever the cause!" Zack shouted back and added "I asked if you were scared because…..you helped me…..and yet you speak of yourself as if you hold no worth to yourself….why?"

A frown grew on Clay's face whilst Zack continues his speech "you have a **good** will Clay… it's something Angeal **used** to see in me"

"Tcch…yeah right" spitted Clay, not amused one bit by Zack's response.

"Why? Why do you act like you have no friends, family, or love ones to fight for?...the man that fought me yesterday, his words spoke of conviction!…not this!" barked the ex-SOLDIER.

Gripping his black gloves tightly Zack continued "Don't you have anyone to fight for, I know my foolish dream of becoming a hero is laughable…. but as of now I'm fighting to save someone, you must…"

"That's because I have none!" Clay barked back in anger, banging his hand on the table and silencing Zack.

"None of it…not even a friend" Clay ended with a long sigh.

"Fine then" Zack mumbled and got off the bar stool and walked towards the Armenian man, he said "Then let me be your first friend, fight for my survival. That's what you want me to do right? Keep me alive until I can fight the obstacles you are too scared to face" He then held out his hand towards Clay.

To Clay's surprise, the word **friend** rang in his head like a church bell, as if a new vocabulary had just been added to his brain. His old self had lots of friends, some family and things he cared for. Then his 35 coma years hit him, frozen, unable to even say good bye as the time went by, slowly stripping him off his connections to the world.

He had lost more than he would ever gain, he felt like a dead man walking. Clay thought it would be wise not to create any bonds with the world after what happened.

A fear that he would lose all close to him…again, and as such his attitude complied, his blabbering turned into insults, fending off anyone nice enough to befriend him. And as such, his habit of nagging about people's flaws worsened. As much as he would love to make friends he would rather create enemies.

The man in black stood before him, this man… name Zack Fair had held out his hand, waiting for a response or even a gesture.

"_Protect him until he fights for my fear…..Sephiroth? Death?" _his thoughts rang. His hand twitched, faintly moving towards Zack.

His thoughts went back to his father's words _**"Regardless of what people may think, good? Evil? Irrelevant terminologies my son"**_ and then to a phrase that hadn't left his mind since the burning of the camp_** "remember Clay, for us….there is no such thing as right or wrong! (Good /evil)"**_

*Click* Door opens

"Sorry I'm late….oh Zack!" Exclaimed Cloud as he walked through the door, prompting the two men to look away from each other and Zack retracting his handshake.

Getting up, Clay looked away and spoke quickly "….I..uhh.. I'll go call Tifa, everyone's here right?" and disappeared up the stairs.

"Everything ok?" asked Cloud with a hint of concern.

"Yeah, it's all good" replied Zack and gave a small smile, but his eyes spoke differently.

"Oh how's your new sword?" said Zack trying to change the subject, he then caught a long sword on its hilt as Cloud threw it.

"Not bad! and you're right, it's like the traditional Shinra blade but heavier, I got no problem with that though….feels like my swings are more heavier now" said Cloud taking a seat on the bar stool as Zack examined the new sword.

The blade itself was definitely not made in Midgar, its hilt was thick with an urban Arabian design. It could be called a hybrid between a long sword and a broadsword, built on the concept of the broadswords thickness and weight, yet it was less of a chore to drag around than the Buster which was a very heavy broadsword.

Combined with the small "Fuller" of a long sword, the thickness of the blade from the blunt end decreased as his hand reached the sharp end, accompanied with a very strange design on the tip of the blade. All the while his hand felt a warm energy resonating from the sword, it was definitely fire element.

Turning around Zack whispered "**Flame tongue**" and threw it back towards Cloud, who caught it deftly without even looking. "Take care of it, Kunsel took a great deal of risk to smuggle such a sword out of Shinra's arsenal" said Zack, remembering his friend back at Shinra.

How was he doing? Was he a fully fledged 1st Class SOLDIER yet?

He could have talked to Kunsel in person, but meeting would be gamble for both parties, they were friends yet enemies now. Though he was sure Kunsel's loyalty in their friendship was stronger, going back to when they were just privates in the army.

4 years had passed and all he could do was send a text message…. Damn.

Breaking his train of thoughts, Tifa appeared in front of the stairs with Clay by her side. Addressing them all, she spoke in a commanding tone "Alright boys! It's time I show you AVALANCHE, follow me" She then walked over to the pinball machine that Clay was standing next to.

"I'll show you just once, so don't ask me again" said Tifa, while pressing a hidden button on the machine. Standing in a position like she was playing the game itself, her body descended along with platform below her. Moments later the machine ascended fitting back inconspicuously into place.

Clay decided that he would rather avoid another confrontation with Zack. So he walked up to the machine and was about to activate the lift when Cloud strode in and quickly took position.

"What's the hurry? Scared that your girlfriend is hiding someone from you?" mocked Clay.

"Shut up, asshole" Cloud spat, as he descended down, leaving the two men alone once again.

"Do you always have to do that?" Zack asked, obviously worried about the group's relationship with one another. He knew that if there was a member in a platoon that had problems with other members, it was normal to settle the matter quickly before any **unforeseen consequences** would happen, especially in a critical situation, like a fire fight.

Clay's attitude was not helping, not one bit. "Hey I told you, it's a bad habit of mines" replied Clay without looking and shrugged off the matter.

Giving one of the many sighs he had today, and Zack was pretty sure there were many more "sighs" to come, he then said "You still haven't answered my previous question yet"

Letting out a heavy breath, Clay turned around and sat on the pinball machine giving no regard to weather the glass plane would break or not. He said "My father told me about people like you"

Raising a brow, Zack said "What did he say?"

Biting his lips, Clay answered with a faint smile "Fools who can't differentiate between Virtuous and Villainy" now, completely smiling Clay added "But fools like you make it possible for me to understand infinity's philosophy once again" (Believing in all possible outcomes)

While holding out a single finger and pressing the button with the other, Clay said "Just you,….just you….1 friend". With that Clay descended into AVALANCHE's hideout.

Giving himself a whimsical laugh, Zack said to himself "This guy is impossible, just impossible!" While shaking his head in disbelief and headed towards the machine himself. He still can't understand why Clay was so afraid to make an alliance with the people around him…he hoped that one day he will.

**AVALANCHE hideout**

**12:15 pm**

Zack's eyes watched the edge of the pinball lift as he descended. Slowly, he took in every detail of the room before him. He stood at the same spot until a small jerk of the platform prompt him to get off. A brunette woman stood to his right, her interest dug deep into what seems to be a computer terminal.

Before him, he saw a slightly overweight man with a bandana, sitting next to him was another fellow. They were both looking at some schematics on the table. What caught his eye was the large man in the corner of the room. He was talking to a little girl and Tifa. From the looks of it, he seems to be in charge of this handful group. However what really caught his eyes was actually his right arm that had been fitted to mount a Gatling gun.

Clay was standing next to the 2 men over at the table, mumbling something about the reactor. Zack walked past them to greet the dark skinned man along with Cloud who was waiting for Zack by the pin ball lift.

"Ah…. the last addition to this group" said Tifa as she gestured towards Cloud and Zack.

Eying the two men closely, the man name **Barret Wallace** crossed his arms/gun before saying "What do we have here? A human chocobo and a black hedgehog, nice….. more animals" while assessing the two men.

"Then you must be the guinea pig eh? Or should I say **Barret Wallace**" announced Clay as he came into view after leaving **Biggs** and **Wedge**.

Popping a vein, Barret didn't liked being called a guinea pig but how did this man know his name?

Stepping forward, he tried to intimidate the Eurasian man by asking "How do you know my name? Tell me quickly before I throw you into the dumpster labeled **dead Shinra spies**"

"Oh I'm not obligated to do that" replied Clay leaning back on the table next to him. All the while Tifa, Cloud and Zack had the same thoughts going through their mind, which was _"Why does he always have to be a pain in the ass!?" _ Gaining the attention of Jessei, Biggs and Wedge.

"And what makes you think so?" spoke Barret in a stern voice.

"Well for starters, you would need to kill me with that gun of yours and I know you wouldn't want to do that in front of…her" answered Clay while looking at a little girl sitting on a pile of boxes next to Barret. He immediately guessed that she was **Marlene**, Barret's adopted daughter. She was looking at Clay with contemplating yet very innocent eyes. It made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Gripping his hands tighter, Barret couldn't stand losing an argument but luckily for them, Tifa stepped in and said "He's our strategist now, so Jessie will have someone to help with the planning"

She then added "You can trust him Barret"

Looking at Tifa he responded immediately "What makes you so sure?"

Her answer seemed to catch the interest of both Cloud and Zack, as she replied "Because I trust him" Even causing Clay to lift a brow in a bit of surprise.

She continued "Besides, if Jessie is the only one handling the plan, two heads are always better than one right?...like a backup"

Not trusting Clay one bit, Barret stepped closer. His huge body and towering height that loomed over Clay like jack and the bean stalk.

However, the shorter man found it hard to feel intimidated, partly because of his new found resolve to Minerva and this planet, and largely because he'd rather be in an argument with someone like Barret instead of holding hands, skipping over a flowering hill with double rainbows over them as they walk into the sunset.

"I think she's right" a voice called, attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

Biggs stepped in with a frown as he voiced his opinion. He wouldn't normally side with a stranger, but he had his reasons and a good one too.

Not the least bit happy about how the conversation is shifting, Barret growled "Biggs, I'm going to slap you silly if-"

"Yeah he's right, look at this…" Wedge added as he and Jessie shared a curious look at piece of blueprint.

"What in the name of my prosthetic gun are you talking about!?" Barret replied with his frustration building up.

"Boss, take a look at this" said Jessie as she handed the blue print paper to her superior, she added "take a look at this point here"

"Isn't that where the bomb is supposed to be placed?" Barret noted.

"Yeah, but that's not it….see right above it?" replied Jessie while pointing to a chamber above the reactor.

"Well what about it?" answered Barret, who was getting a bad hunch about where this was leading.

"That's where the Mako gets turned into electricity, basically a huge transformer room…. that if destroyed can cause an explosion 10 times larger than what I calculated" said Jessie with a grim expression.

"Isn't that a good thing?" replied Barret with a smirk.

"Oh it's good…for retards" butted in Clay, who was now sitting on the table.

"What you call me?" Snarled Barret, he was ready to swing one at the Armenian man if not for Tifa who stood in front of him with her hands pushing against the large man.

"I think he means that there's going to be collateral damage….lots of it" Zack spoke up, to his own surprise.

"So?" shot back Barret

"So?...so innocent people's gonna die" answered Clay.

Eying the shorter man closely, Barret said "So what now, you're some sort of hero?"

"Hero?" Clay snorted, giving himself a small laugh before saying "Oh fuck that! I'm no hero, nowhere close to it….but I'll tell you what I am" tapping his head Clay added "I'm a fucking realist…that's what I am"

He continued "You see….i don't see the point of saving the planet if you're killing innocent people in the process…might as well kill people instead of bombing the reactor in the first place if that's what you're good at"

Shifting his weight and growling a small amount of swear, Barret saw some sense in Clay's point.

"Barret?" a small voice called from behind the man.

Turning around in surprise, Barret responded immediately changing his tone in a 180 degree turn in his expression to his beloved adopted daughter "What is it Marlene?"

"Are people really going to die like he said?" She asked worriedly, while tugging his pants and giving Clay a scared look.

"Of course not honey" Barret answered and kneeled to pat her head.

"Why don't you go to your room? We're going to have a very important discussion now, so you're going to get bored" the large man said and she responded by sitting on his shoulder as he walked over to the elevator.

As Marlene ascended, Clay eyed the little girl. Giving her a contemplating stare as she moved passed him and up the elevator. She seemed happy enough, not the perfect childhood anyone would ask for but nonetheless, she was happy.

Something he didn't experience much growing up, not with that constant training regime his father put him through since a young age. He didn't swim around such matters for long because he later understood his old man's obsession to pass on his legacy, which came around to bite his sorry ass.

He wasn't angry at him, nor was he satisfied either. It was like giving an infant an RPG, what was he to do even if he knew how to do use it? He had no purpose.

But not for long, his arrival here gave him a little purpose in his skills, although a very small one. What can a single man with knowledge in martial arts do to stop an apocalypse?

Nothing came to Clay's mind…..but he sure wanted to find out.

"Hey!" Barret shouted snapping his fingers in front of Clay, breaking him out of his trance of thoughts.

"huh, you say something?" Clay replied clumsily, getting back to reality.

"I said, if we can't blow up the reactor….what do we do genius?" Barret repeated.

"Oh we are still blowing up the reactor" Clay replied, getting a bunch of wha? And huh(s)? from the people in the room.

Turning to Jessie as he sat on the table, Clay asked "Is there a control room somewhere on that blue print"

Jessie quickly searched the map/blueprint, after a few seconds she replied "Yep, but it's really deep in the compound of the reactor itself, not to mention it's completely on the far side of the reactor"

"Doesn't matter, the point is we shut down the reactor then blow it up….simple right? Didn't even need to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out" Clay said and got off the table.

"Yeah….good idea" complimented Tifa rubbing her chin, while glancing at Barret who was silent. Work with him long enough and you'll know that the silent treatment probably means he agrees but doesn't want to say it out loud.

Biggs spoke up "But the reactor is huge, by the time we plant the bomb it would blow before we get to the console room"

"We can split up right? One small team maybe even just 2 people can get to the control room and the rest plants the bomb" Cloud said finally break his seal of silence.

"Ok I'm calling dibs on Clay" Zack quickly said, earning Clay a massive jaw drop.

"What!? Dude I'm like the most useless guy in a fight! Pick Ocho el-NO NO Masterbato Muerte over there (points at Barret) OR…or Cloud!" Clay replied frantically, while everyone stared at him.

"Take good care of him" Tifa said as she walked passed Zack, giving him a friendly pat. She shrugged as she moved passed very shocked looking Clay…..who can't seem to close his mouth.

"Fine then, it's settled! We rendezvous at the station at 6 …SHARP!" Barret announced and turned to his 3 subordinates, giving them orders that slowly faded from Clay's numb mind.

*Snap*

"CLAY!"

"CLAAAAAAY!"

Tifa snapped her fingers in front of his face once more, immediately plunging him back from limbo. His eyes looked around frantically, darting from the blonde man to the ex-SOLDIER then to the woman before him and back to the ex-SOLDIER. He couldn't help but bite his lip and accept the fact that he wasn't going with the main cavalry.

A layer of fear was settling upon him, shaking his head in denial Clay looked at his new partner. Sometimes….he wished he had some MAKO enhancements too. With a final thought that shed its wings upon today's plan…..he hoped that he really wouldn't have to deal with any ** unforeseen consequences**.

* * *

**Train Station**

**Time skip **

**5:30 pm**

"Bullshit!" exclaimed Zack, who looked shocked to hear the small bit of news from his partner.

"No kidding, I can't use magic…not even with materia equipped" Clay answered, crossing his arms in disappointment. He took some time to investigate his affiliation with Gaia's "Magic" which came to a dead end, when he found out that his body was not able to channel the life stream even through the use of Materia.

"Why?" Zack shouted in confusion.

"Beats me….I guess it's because I'm not from around here…I mean I feel a certain energy when I try to use the materia but it feels like….it's pushing me away rather than helping me" Clay responded, thinking back to earlier when he tried to get his hands on some materia for the slots in his equipment.

"You mean like…it's rejecting you?" Zack asked, earning a nod from Clay who stole another glance at the entrance of the train station for the 100th time, anxiously waiting for someone to show up.

"They'll come….everyone has to prepare right?" Zack added to Clay's lingering thoughts.

"Yeah don't give me an advice I don't need" he shot back silently while sighing. The train was about to arrive and no one except him and Zack showed up. What's taking them so long... he wondered.

"Oh I think it's a good advice for a guy who prefers working out his body rather than shopping for his gears and supplies on the day he's about to go bomb a fucking reactor" Zack replied with a smirk drawn across his cheek.

"Hey! It's a routine Kata practice okay?! And it's not for my body, it's called muscle memory training. Helps with remembering what I know" He allow himself to smile a bit before adding "At least I don't just do squats when I'm nervous" Clay said, giving Zack a sharp look.

"Wait how'd you-…."

"Hello ladies!" Barret shouted from behind the two men, gaining their immediate attention.

The man was armed to the teeth, he was dressed to kill….literally. His belt hosted a number of items such as grenades, a machete at the back of his belt and sockets filled with shotgun shells. Barret wasn't a man of mercy when it comes to a fight….and you could easily tell from the large 12 gauge shotgun strapped to his back with another leather belt that ran diagonally across his chest, carrying even more shells.

"don't you have enough guns already?" Zack asked rhetorically as he eyed the prosthetic gun and not really expecting an answer from the large man. However, he did get an answer…..but not from Barret.

"A man can never have too much power, it's like saying you can't have the right to grow beyond infancy" Clay answered with a smile that always crept up on him when he said that line. It was an advice that his father kept telling him and in sure hell was it a good one.

"What did you bring Pipsqueak?" blurted Barret as he double checked his equipment.

"Oh right! I forgot….here" Zack exclaimed, and handed Clay a belt with a black hostler, unstrapping it from his own waist.

"Huh? You actually got one?! I didn't expect you to find one at all….from the way you said how pistols aren't very popular here" Clay replied, taking a look at his new weapon. Resembling much of the **Heckler and Koch USP** pistols, having seen a number of them in Thailand to recognize it, Clay checked its cartridge, double checked its safety and he pulled back its barrel revealing a loaded chamber through the release port.

He ran his fingers across the barrel, feeling its edgy and bulky design. Turning it over he read the service number and ran his finger over the grip which fit him like a glove. Tipping it over once more he found it's name inscribed behind it's grip, just under the lever, it says **Guardian-140. **

Satisfied and quiet impressed by it's design, Clay holstered the gun back onto the belt which he was now wearing.

"That was my old gun, but you can have it" Zack said, concealing a smile at the memory of his gun. It was a relic of the past which he attained back in his private days….Ah the naive days.

"That's it!, just one pistol?" Barret exclaimed, not believing his eyes.

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people...you kill someone using a gun, who killed him? the gun or you?" Replied Clay, as he leaned to the side and noticed the rest of the AVALANCHE crew walking up to the main train station platform.

The clock read 5:40 pm and it was already past sunset. The train station was practically empty…save the AVALANCHE crew and their mercenaries.

Looking at Barret, Clay added "Besides, he's doing the heavy lifting" (points his thumb to Zack) and walked past the large man to greet Tifa, earning another big sigh from Zack.

"Thought the double date was off" shouted Clay as he approached Cloud, Tifa, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge.

"Cheh…Yeah right" Sneered Cloud while glancing at Clay's "date" a.k.a Zack Fair.

"Have fun boys….oh and don't forget this" She handed the Armenian man two cards.

"What…oh, fake IDs" responded Clay Holding up the card that had a picture of a man that barely resembled him.

Tossing the other card to his partner, Zack was staring at the incoming train. His eyes set on a mission like he always does back at Shinra….from this point on; things are going to get ugly.

Apparently they won't be taking the same train, Clay and Zack had to reach the far side of reactor and then work their way up into the control room. However the rest of the crew was to take the industrial route and find their way to the chamber below the reactor and blow it up…..hopefully after Zack and Clay had shut it down.

As the Train came to a halt, the two men with an air of malevolence surrounding them strode in. Their eyes speak of a duty that must be fulfilled at the cost of their lives….though some of their motives may differ, but none the less deadly.

Adjusting his pitch black trench coat and pulling back the Mithril gauntlets he recently acquired to fit his hands; Clay smirked and said right before the door closed.

"Say Barret...Despite what I said before about power….Do you have a gun fetish or something? Cuz I swear if there were other people here they might think you're a pervert" Clay said mockingly as he starred at the older man as the door slowly closed.

"Fuck. You"

*Door closes*

* * *

A.N…Can anyone recognize the gaming reference in this story (other than street fighter) it's a classic.

REVIEWS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

Exams is though….No time to do my research too. Anyway it's out!...any suggestions? Hopefully the FF7 characters aren't toooooooo OOC.

I promise my next chapter will be longer.


	6. Chapter 6 Exposure

Disclaimer!...I don't own Final fantasy 7 or street fighter and any other gaming references, if I did I would be famous…. Spare me the court order.

**Bold are …..Important stuff/techniques/limit breaks/ spells/ ice cream sandwiches and Cheese Cakes**

_Italics are thoughts/voices/Whispers/Sean Connery narrating/ Morgan freeman speaking_

* * *

**Chapter 6:- Exposure**

**Mako Reactor Sector 1 West wing (Train tracks)**

Zack ran his fingers around the handle of his sword, feeling its hilt and testing his grip every few seconds. No, he wasn't nervous, or scared, or worried about his own personal safety. Though his constant gaze was poised at the next train car, scanning for any hostiles to keep his mind occupied…..but not from the pressure that he felt from what he was about to attempt….not even close.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?" Zack barked, popping a huge vein on his fore head.

" –_euty of of the blistering sky-_…Aww come on, this is my favorite part" Clay answered, unsatisfied with being interrupted.

"But you sound horrible!" Zack countered, trying to shake off a growing headache.

"No one asked you!" Clay replied and continued his singing.

"Can't you do something else when you're nervous?" Zack pointed out, trying to stop Clay from torturing his ears any further.

"Hey!…. I've done things that would make normal people really nervous okay…..Bombing a reactor is not one of them" answered Clay, while remembering his first run in with the Japanese Yakuza….Oh that cluster fuck almost got him killed.

He added "I'll stop when we reach the reactor" and continued singing _**Archive - bullets**_.

"I've never felt so happy to bomb a reactor before…." Said Zack with a whimpering sigh, but lord have mercy! He saw a station coming up. Quickly shifting his eyes to the panel that displayed the station name…bingo, he was saved. LORD DID HAVE MERCY.

Hopping on one foot then to another and slowly breathing out, Clay then extended his arms and palm forward and brought it back in a single slick motion, it was a tai chi circulation exercise that he constantly practiced out of habit ever since his Ki was unlocked. Next he proceeded to check his equipment, gun, gauntlets and adrenaline shots…. check.

"Ok, you know what to do right?" Zack voiced his question loud enough to snap Clay back from double checking his gear.

"Uhh…yeah, you do your thing while I watch from a safe distance right?" replied Clay, with a smile.

"No! Come on Clay I'm ser-"

"Lighten up….I'm just joking, I got your back man" Clay said, changing his tone, the danger ahead was beyond his knowledge, this was daring as it gets and death was a welcomed guest…. just not today.

He fought for himself now, not just to surpass his father and grow out of his shadow, the goal to help this planet survive was something of a burden but yet a definite goal. Not really the best way to do it….but it was a path he took none the less and as a martial artist he wouldn't look back on his choices.

As the train came to a halt, Zack immediately spotted 3 Shinra infantry, patrolling about the station and surprisingly very alert. Zack wondered what had made them so diligent all of a sudden. Did the other group sound the alarm already? Were they dead? ….He shook his head and dismissed the thought. If they were detected, the alarm would have alerted the entire reactor.

"Hey! Zack….I got an idea" Clay called out, gaining his attention.

.

.

.

.

Gary, one of the infantry men had just finished his rounds and was about to return to the post where 2 of his colleagues was watching over. On regular days, they would've been sitting on the station platform, cracking jokes while Barney brags about his wife's huge bust, and Brian would be reading a hustler's magazine.

Not this particular day though, in fact he had been working his ass of for an entire week. Lately his CO (Commanding Officer) would take rounds to check on the reactor, supposedly because there was an attack on the Shinra encampment when they were attacking someone….god the irony.

He didn't bother much though, the division that got sent out was a different branch and he didn't get much detail out of it, all he knew was that it was a blood bath. Not that he wished he was there, after all Gary valued his life and balls more than getting some action in the field, but sometimes it just gets too boring out here.

Gary then eye balled the Train that had just arrived and sighed at the amount of passengers that left the train….none. Of course why would anyone visit a reactor? Despite his very rational thought, right before the train closed its automatic door, a man walked out.

His attention shifted immediately to the man in the black trench coat, he looked lost and out of place. The infantry then noticed the Mithril gauntlets and immediately drew his sub machine gun strapped to his leg.

"Put your hand where I can see them and identify yourself!" Gary shouted to the rather short man., while his hands quickly worked on the radio hoisted on his shoulder.

His iron sights set on the man that looked baffled, dumb founded and somewhat scared. A few seconds later Brian and Barney showed up behind Gary, while also keeping their iron sights on the mysterious man.

"Hey Gary, who's this?"

"The fuck should I know…I already asked him and he didn't say shit"

"He looks scared though"

"Of your mom"

"Shut up Brian!"

"Come on Barney, he's harmless…look at his face"

"I see a gauntlet and a pretty good one too"

"Ok, you know what?... I'll search him you pussies"

"Brian be careful man, you still owe me and Gary lunch"

"Fuck you"

Brian slowly approached the man who held his hands up, _good_ he thought…. probably just a civilian. The sudden movement of the train startled him as it released the gas from its breaks and hissed along the way. Brian shifted his sights back to the **person of interest **andstepped closer, very slowly despite his trash talk.

The young man stood half a meter from him, wearing a pitch black trench coat and very odd looking pants. His appearance didn't strike him as hostile…..not until he saw the hostler of Clay's new gun. But it was already too late.

The Armenian man swung down both his hands that were already raised. He formed a fist that struck both the soldier's ears at a speed that only humans can acquire after years of practice.

Crushing his opponent's eardrums, he immediately dislodged the gun from the man's grip in a single follow up motion that didn't require any recoil from his hands after his first attack.

Checking the gun's design as he strode forward and almost tripping over the squirming body of the infantry that was clutching his **ears** in agony.

"Here catch!" Clay voiced himself to the ex-SOLDIER that stood next to the two unconscious infantry (Gary and Barney), throwing him the sub-machinegun.

"I don't need this" Zack replied, eying the gun with some disgust….he then said "This gun sucks"

"Well keep it! You never know" Answered Clay as he stepped over Gary who seemed to have **his jaw** dislocated. Next to him laid Barney in an uncanny yet amusing condition, he had a black **eye** and an imprint of what Clay assumed was Zack's boot across on his face.

Letting out a small breath of relief, Zack walked over to the control booth and unlocked the gate that led into the reactor.

"What doesn't kill you, becomes you're best friend" Clay whispered to himself as he strode over to the gate. With the security down, he had a moment to take in the view, the reactor was huge to say the least. He ran his eyes across the pipes, following the electrical wires and the fabric that made up the damn thing as it led to other areas of the city, he noticed some steam that would occasionally burst out from the pipes, forming a constant noise in the background. His eyes then traced along the reactor's industrial design and not finding any particular aspect that caught his interest, aside from the pavement that was moist and slippery, plus the damp air that smelled of smoke which burned his nostrils and the cold wind which wasn't helping his nerves either.

He didn't like it…..reminded him too much of home.

"Ready?" Zack asked, glancing at Clay while facing the gate.

"More or less…..let's get this over with, I haven't taken a bath in 2 days" Replied Clay with a small grin.

* * *

**Reactor 1**

**Sector 1**

**East wing**

Barret was having a good day, despite his recent conversation with Clay which at the memory of it always made his eye twitch. They were making good time, despite the resistance that was met when they got off the train, but with his newly employed mercenary that seemed to handle himself well enough to make him feel relaxed in such a situation.

"Ya know…I still don't trust your SOLDIER ass for shit" Barret voiced himself, as he walked into the connecting walkway of the reactor.

"He's doesn't seem that bad, even if he **was a **SOLDIER" Jessie added while trying to hide her face from Cloud.

Biggs and wedge responded with a shrug, not that they didn't agree. Having both witnessed the former Shinra employed soldier in action was pretty awe-inspiring.

Cloud was a natural with swordplay, his good arm was able to cut through most armors, and swift enough to counter attacks…..a normal sign of MAKO enhancement.

"Hnn.." was all that he responded, his mind was set on finishing the job, get the money, and be on his way with Zack, he couldn't care less of AVALANCHE's goal or philosophy.

But his mind was preoccupied with something else, after parting with his childhood friend Tifa at the train station, he felt exhilarated after having fought a few guardsman after dislodging the train.

Was this MAKO?! Is this what Zack had acquired?! Though he had secretly trained with a sword in hopes of becoming a SOLDIER, he never felt such power and speed before. His choice of weapon was mainly a gun, but through the course of their journey, Zack had convinced him to take up the sword as his main strongpoint. He even gave him lesson on swordplay during their short time in the city, and how to carefully handle **Flame tongue **the fire element sword.

So far, the group was convinced that he was an ex-SOLDIER like Zack and the thought of it made him bit his lips, as he felt the shame in lying to his childhood friend, and failing to become a SOLDIER.

The sound of another **"sweeper" **pulled him back from his thoughts. Drawing his sword Cloud dashed forward, skidding to the side of the metal pathway while Barret fired his machine gun.

The barrage which drew any agro from Cloud wasn't very effective but left the mech's flank wide open. Cloud took the opportunity to slide under its belly as it was preoccupied by the ricocheting bullets that rained upon its frame, denting and causing a few circuits to flare, but no significant damage was done.

Still running, Cloud slid between the metal legs while dragging his sword across the ground leaving a trail of sparks. Swinging the sword up in a large arc, his blade's connected to the mech's frame with a loud *CLANG!*.

Fire wasn't great against metal, but heck does it fry the shit out of the wires inside. The sword let off a trail of ember as the shallow but effective cut left the robot stunned for a moment.

It took a wobbly step back, readying its machine gun, but Cloud had already sheathed his sword and turned his back on the mech while walking towards the reactor 1 entrance along with Barret. Giving not a single fuck, Cloud proceeded into the reactor right when the Sweeper started firing again…or in this case blew itself up.

"Fucking show off" Barret grunted while looking at a console that Biggs was working on.

"Decipher complete" He said over his shoulder, prompting the group to continue deeper into the reactor. Entering an elevator which Cloud doubted had any soothing music, along with Biggs, Wedge, Jessie and Barret, he pondered on the status of his friend. Shaking the thought of him dying anytime soon and remembering how strong he was in battle, Cloud immediate killed the idea of losing his comrade.

The maintenance elevator opened up to a less welcoming area of the reactor and immediately brushing past him was Jessie who went scouting ahead. The ex-Shinra infantry stepped out, ignoring Barret who was giving a speech about how the reactor was killing the planet….he couldn't care less.

The group proceeded out of the elevator and faced another series of unwelcoming crane-like walkways, "Grunt" troops and unconventional routes which was filled with broken concrete pathways.

.

.

A while later, Barret dislodged himself in what he wished was the last ladder he had to climb today.

"I fucking hate ladders" He grumbled, flexing his hand. It was quiet nerve-racking when you try to climb 20 meters with one hand.

"Must be getting old" added Cloud, not even looking back.

"I can take you on any day boy!" Barret snarled, trying to keep his cool.

"Try me… old man" Cloud replied with a hint of amusement, now exchanging glares.

Staring into each other's eyes, they were at each other's throat already and it seemed that neither one of them was going to back down anytime soon.

"Uhhh…guyz?" interrupted Wedge who was sweating profoundly.

"**WHAT!?" **answered the two men, simultaneously.

Not giving an answer, instead he and Biggs simply ran behind Cloud and Barret, allowing both men to focus on the object standing on the narrow walkway in front of them.

…

….

…..

"Fuck…..me"

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

The two men dived away from a bright blue laser that almost incinerated them to ashes. Quickly getting back up Cloud looked at the source of destruction to see a humongous red colored **Sweeper**, 3 times the size of a normal Sweeper…. Scratch that, taking a closer look Cloud noticed that its design was different from the normal Sweeper, with a huge tail that resembled a scorpion and with six razor sharp metallic legs.

Skidding back, he quickly dragged Barret along the floor from his shotgun belt into a small empty unused elevator shaft that offered better cover than the railings outside. He had to balance himself on the edge so he or Barret wouldn't fall.

Taking peek, he remembered a rumor during his time in Shinra 4 years ago. They were making a new guard robot called the **"Guard Scorpion" **and another project to create a stronger version called the **"Guard Scorpion Mark-2" **

Pulling his head back to avoid a hail of bullets from the large mech as it began to fire its mounted rifles, Cloud caught a small glimpse of a the robot's initials engraved to its side…**.MK-2**

"Fuck…." Cloud swore under his breath while looking at Barret who was trying his best to fire back at the Mark-2.

Barret peeked at the robot one more time before shouting under the sound of raining bullets "CLOUD! Think you can take him!?"

"I think so! I just need an opening but it seems like it's not letting up any time soon!" answered Cloud trying to come up with a plan.

"I can use my grenades but I'll be ripped to shreds before I can throw them!" shouted Barret while clutching his trusty pineapple in one hand.

Out of the blue, a massive tremor rocked the entire rector which sent Cloud and Barret off the foot, but still in cover and equally affecting the Mark-2.

Cloud took the small window to draw his sword and slip out of cover.

"Cover me!" He yelled

Cranking up his gatling gun, Barret rolled out of cover and crouched to aim his prosthetic gun at his target right when it was regaining its footing, setting the mode to an all-out rapid fire which significantly increases the rate of fire but in turn could fry his arm, but hey….. desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Die you son of a bitch!" grunted Barret as he let loose a barrage of bullets, feeling the heat increasing along his arm. He wouldn't be able to use it for a while after this.

Cloud kept his head low, under his employer's mad burst of projectile while running forward and plus the damn robot was all the way across the walkway. Strangely, he could only hear the sounds of the raging gunfire, its impact ricocheting and the metallic clank of the Mark-2's legs…..weird.

It was the first time his MAKO enhancement really kicked in, he felt a surge of power, similar to an adrenaline rush but 10 times more potent. His senses were heightened to its peak as he quickly approached the mech. Smell, touch, hearing…..for the first he seemed to be able to experience them all voluntarily separate or was consciously aware of them as separately.

On the other hand the Mark-2 Guard scorpion appeared unfazed by the shower of bullets as its armor was no doubt much tougher than that of the normal Guard scorpion. The least effect were small bumps in its metallic frame in addition to being slowly pushed back.

The Mark-2 set its sights on the approaching assailant and started to fire its mounted assault rifles, Cloud responded by jumping up, surprised at the height that which he can achieve himself. None the less his mind remembered the words spoken to him earlier that day

.

.

"_**So I just channel it into the sword?...Zack that sounds crazy"**_

"_**Crazy? I do that all the time" **_

_***Zack then picks up the buster sword and slashes the air sending a blue shockwave that exploded on impact with a wall***_

"_**I can't do that"**_

"_**Course you can, you got MAKO running in your veins now"**_

"_**Still can't do it"**_

"_**Ok, try something simpler, like infusing the sword with Mako, just let it flow like water conducting electricity….easy right?"**_

_**.**_

_**.**_

"**Braver's ember!" (Another version of ****Braver****)**

Cloud descended with Flame tongue in hand which burned in a bright blue flame. He swung down with both arms on the mech's head creating a huge bump on its front motor, while frying some circuits from the spreading shockwave that was enveloped by the blue flame. His attack alone made the Mark-2 fall to its robotic knees.

Sweating and panting heavily, Cloud left the sword embedded on its frame, largely because he was somewhat tiered and partly because he was astonished at himself.

The same tremor came back, much more violent than the last, causing Cloud to catch hold of his sword that was still stuck on the mech's head.

"What the fuck was that?...Oh and uhh…..is it dead yet?!" shouted Barret from all the way across from the walkway.

"I think s.."

He was unable to finish his sentence when he heard the sound of an engine revving up, louder than any car he ever rode. Looking down he saw the engine of the Mark-2 going crazy, its exhaust pipe spitting out smoke like it was connected to a hundred chimneys.

Quickly grabbing his sword, his body was thrown into the air as his sword was pushed up by the robot's head. Landing close to anything but graceful, Cloud quickly stumbled backward from the large momentum.

When he finally came to a halt, Cloud noticed that the Mark-2 was shaking uncontrollably. Sparks flew left and right, accompanied by the constant flaring of its engine. It was going **rampant** from the damage, and seemed somewhat even more dangerous than before. Raising its tail for another laser attack, Cloud couldn't reach it in time to counter attack, his only choice was to dodge and try again.

Running back to cover, Cloud heard the sudden discharge of the laser behind him. Reacting just in time for the laser beam to miss his head by a hair's breath as he dived into a prone, allowing the laser to hit the ladder they used earlier to accesses this floor and melting it like hot knife through butter.

Barret popped out of cover and madly threw 2 grenades at the Mark-2 which on impact caused a fiery explosion that seemed only disorient the mech for a few seconds.

"So much for his pineapples" mumbled Cloud to himself as he skittered himself to cover while trying to keep his head low from another barrage of gunfire.

Barret felt another tremor coming, a smaller one this time but it felt close…..like something was hitting a wall nearby.

Taking a peek to see the annoying robot once more, he noticed the ceiling above the Guard scorpion had collapsed….and no, not the Armageddon dooms day collapse, more like it was cut open in a triangular shape….?

* * *

**15 minutes ago **

**Midpoint between East Wing and West Wing**

The two AVALANCHE employed mercenary were trotting across an empty hallway, well empty in the sense that if you're not counting the millions of broken pieces of sweepers and flying drones that populated the hallway.

No doubt resistance was met but was dealt with easily, due to Zack's tendency to charge head on into enemy ranks and massacring them and Clay's constant nagging. The duo, having climbed a number of stairs themselves was getting restless about AVALANCHE's other team…. but both men knew that it was their least of their worries… at least for Clay it seems.

Zack advanced upward through the reactor with Clay following closely behind, or what Clay would call literally "Rear guard" which made Zack roll his eyes in pure annoyance as he thought _"he just wouldn't admit he's scared to take point!" _

The ex-SOLDIER found it hard to believe the fact that there were only a handful of human beings in such a place. No doubt replaced by the surplus amount of security bots around here.

Or…

Were they all in the East wing?Zack gave it a thought, if so…. Cloud could be in some serious trouble right now. His mind snapped out as they reached the 7th floor of the reactor where the console room was supposed to be in.

Kicking open the first door on his right, Zack dashed into a room, sword at the ready. Following behind him…or more like peeking out from behind the door was Clay that slowly walked in.

"The door was open you know? Didn't have to kick it open" Said Clay looking around to find himself finally in the console room.

"Isn't that something you would do?" Zack replied over his shoulder, while looking at a group of unarmed men and women, working around of the room….more like frozen.

"Point taken" Clay answered in a shrug, walking over to one of the control panel next to him

He seemed alienated to what laid before him, weird machines littered the place. Towering over his head were wires and scales of numerous types….. But what caught his attention was a humongous glass wall that over looked the chamber beneath them.

Here, they witnessed pure Mako energy being pumped up from Gaia, through numerous pipes and cylindrical auto mechanic machinery that Clay didn't bother to guess its name. The chamber echoed the room with its constant pumping, filling the glass wall with Mako that leaked from the generators at each thrust and causing a wave of blue substance to spread and dance around the chamber.

he spoke up "Any idea how to…."

"No" Zack immediately answered before the Armenian man could even finish.

Looking around, Clay finally noticed several people that occupied the room, most of them wearing lab coats and others were in hazmat suits. The lack of this knowledge was largely due to the fact that everyone froze in their places the moment Zack busted through the door.

Frowning Clay turned to his partner and said "Civilians eh? About time I saw some, thought this place was haunted"

Breathing out heavily, Zack eyed the men and woman that glared at the duo in awe, whispers spread throughout the room, some even catching a whiff of what might happen and slowly cowered in fear.

Turning to Clay and back at the people, Zack thought to himself _"Now what?"_

***BANG* BANG* **

"_Gun shots?"_…..Zack's instinct caused him to reach for the buster sword that rested on his back, but he could do little to stop the train of events that was about to unfold.

Everyone in the room, started panicking, screaming, some fell and stumbled as they ran for cover and hid behind their desk and machines.

Basically…..they all ended up on the floor fearing for their lives.

"Works like a charm" Mumbled Clay stepping forward, while dropping his hand that held his pistol up to the ceiling.

"What are you doing!?" Zack hissed, catching Clay by the shoulder.

"Making space…..don't worry I didn't kill or destroyed anything" replied Clay…right after a tile from the ceiling dropped down, causing the light bulb on it to shatter.

"Except that…" he added.

Turning around, the Eurasian man randomly choose a woman that was closest to him, she was probably in her early thirties. He noticed her excessive makeup…even for a scientist or what not.

"You!... come with me!"

She resisted for a moment, prompting Clay to draw his gun…or at least tried to….. The bluff worked, so making his way across the console he signaled Zack to watch the door and he responded with a nod.

"Turn off the reactor" Commanded Clay, while glancing at Zack.

"Why should I listen to a terrorist?" She growled back, almost crying. _"Haha….…cute"_, thought Clay.

Almost smiling Clay said "You know I'd hate to ruin a day of a very beautiful girl…so you either help us or my obnoxiously loud mind will start talking"

"That's not even a threat!" She yelled back.

"You want bet on that?" Clay answered with a large smirk.

"Clay we don't have time for this!" Zack shouted back, quickly returning his attention to the door.

Clay observed the woman for a while…and a while actually meant 5 seconds.

.

.

.

.

.

"SHE HAS A D CUP!" shouted Clay on top of his lungs, which startled both Zack and the workers in the room.

"What?...n…no!" stammered the young woman

"Start working or your 3 sizes will be revealed next!" sneered Clay, his eyes gleaming as he kept his stare on his "hostage"

"You don't even know m…"

"37-27-38!" yelled Clay as loud as possible.

"Ok stop please!…. I'll do it!" replied the woman with her face red as a tomato and unable to even look back at her colleague for comfort from all the embarrassment.

"_How did he know my sizes?" She thought._

"I like you better with a gun" Zack added as he tried his best to hide an uncontrollable smile and also making a mental note of **"HOW THE FUCK DID HE GUESS IT RIGHT?"**

"Eyes on the door Zack" was all the reply he got from Clay while he was too busy looking at the gas chamber and the woman.

"Yeah yeah…..….SHIT LOOK OUT!" Shouted Zack.

Turning around, Clay spotted a Shinra foot soldier by the door, aiming his rifle straight at him. His eyes widened as the trigger was pulled. His inhuman reflexes kicked in prompting him to dive towards the young woman, catching her buy the shoulder. He swung her down following his dive for cover.

A short moment filled with *CLANGS* of ricocheting bullets, accompanied by the sound of metal being shredded, a long cry of agony followed by a small whimpers from some workers in the room. Only then did Clay finally look up from his prone position.

Getting up, he looked at the unconscious body of his enemy as it lay twisted on the floor, his arms were dislocated and his fingers broken at several different places.

"I call that the **Mannequin's Touch**" Zack said in a rather proud tone.

Brushing himself up, Clay helped the girl regain her bearings, as she looked somewhat worried.

"What's wrong?" Clay asked as she stared at the console

"That…"she replied while pointing a finger at the panel.

What lay before him was a cluster fucks of wires, broken scales that measured all manner of things, flaring circuit boards that can be seen through the holes made by bullets and an unusable fucking console.

As if on cue, the reactor beneath them shook violently, knocking the scientist off her feet and causing some instruments to tumble down.

"What's going on!" Zack yelled, trying to stay afoot.

"The control's probably gone hay wire, an extra catalyst could've been added so the reaction's too fast now!... that's too much for the reactor to handle" replied the worker.

"WHAT? I don't even…" Zack said in confusion.

"That means the reactor is going to melt from the inside out!" added Clay who looked frantically around him as the lights flicker out of control.

With panic creeping up on him, his thoughts dashed between their duty and his own personal survival…..survival won, however if the reactor was about to be a pile of shit paste

"_Did a bomb really matter at all?" _thought Clay.

"Fuck it, I'm out!" growled Clay steadying himself.

"What about….?!"

"Screw the control and the bomb, this place is coming down anyway!" interrupted Clay, picking up the woman beside him and shoving her towards the door. Conveniently, the room was already evacuated over the course of his panic attack.

Clay was stumbling to the door as another tremor hit, this time larger than before. It had caused the ceiling to partially collapse along with small debris of cement, tiles, glass bulbs and wires that broke through. A growing fire sprouted in the corridor from the flaring electrical wires that were dangling about.

Running past Clay, Zack held a large piece of paper in his right hand. Once in the corridor, the ex-SOLDIER spread the object down. With disco-like lights everywhere the paper proved hard to recognize to the Eurasian man, courtesy of Mr. Wire McFire splashing all over the hallway.

"What is it!?" shouted Clay, trying to raise his voice over the constant buzzing of the lights and wires.

"A map!" replied Zack with his hands tracing the lines that crisscrossed the paper.

"We don't need a fucking map!, we need to get the fuck out of here!" barked the shorter man.

"I need to get Cloud out of this mess first!" replied Zack, still analyzing the map despite the poor lighting

"Oh great…just great!...This is not the time to be playing hero ZACK! He's fine on his own, just leave him!" Growled Clay, frustrated at what has come up.

"Shut up! I'm trying to concentrate!" snarled the ex-SOLDIER.

"Shut up!? Oh yeah…. because reading a mother fucking map is totally more useful than my reasonable opinion! We need to-…"

Clay's collar was crumbled into a knot as his back landed against the wall. Zack was holding his body up with only one hand, his eyes shot him a deadly glare, as he spoke "You wouldn't know…..you said it yourself you have no one"

The taller man gritted his teeth and looked down, his hair falling over his face as he continued "Why am I doing this?, because I don't want to be a miserable fuck like you!"

"Unlike some fools I still have people I care about, whether you like it or not I'm going!" Zack ended with nasty scowl as he released Clay from the strong clutches of his palm.

The shorter man dropped down, slumping against the wall slightly. Those words sure hit home without a doubt, true…. he hadn't had a person he cared about for so many years. He gave up even giving a damn to find love, friends, heck his phone had only 11 numbers stored in it for 5 years. Why?...no shit…..it was fear. The same fear that would seep through his emotions, haunt him in his sleep and drive him insane. But he wasn't a depressed fuck-tard…..no he won't let it engulf him.

That's why he fought, day and night, his limbs….numb from all that he shattered and to no end will his pain disappear and so he fought on.

Replacing his memories with battle cries, adrenaline and struggling to be the best at something which he isn't even sure held any value anymore, the only reason he kept practicing his martial arts and upheld his code was because it was the last thing his father left him. He wasn't going to throw it away that easily.

Out-living everyone you know, is like taking away your memory, nobody would want that right? You don't want to forget your best friend, or that nice neighbor that sent you an apple pie every now and then, or your buddies from college or the love of your life…..especially when you had just found her.

.

.

"Ok….fine, how do we get to him?" Clay mumbled lowly, still resting his back on the wall. His fist felt heavy, weighed down by his emotions. He didn't want to be reminded of his past at all…not one bit.

"We're already here…" Zack replied plainly as he spread his palms on the concrete floor, feeling its material and guessing its thickness which in turn earned the Eurasian man a confused look.

"What do mean we're already here?" Clay repeated while trying to stay afoot from another tremor that rocked the reactor, if not for his constant balance training, it would've definitely been a chore to even stand straight.

Kicking the ground a few times, Zack drew the Buster sword to his chest with its tip pointing down and stabbed it vertically, embedding it halfway into the concrete with a loud screeching sound.

"They're right below us…." Was his only reply before leaving Clay to let the words slowly sink in.

Placing his back against his own sword like he was leaning on it as some sort of post, Zack then grabbed the familiar handle from behind him and with a grunt the ex-SOLDIER yanked the sword horizontally in a large arc along the ground, leaving behind a spark filled air and a deep cut along the floor.

The movement itself looked like a half moon slash to Clay, but soon his attention was set on Zack once more as he repeated the same motion and connected yet another huge cut and forming a V shaped scar on the floor. It didn't take a genius to guess what he was about to attempt, surely they were both mad men in their own rights…..and Clay knew that as a fact, but at this point he wondered who was crazier.

With one final swing, Zack stood in the middle of the triangularly cut concrete floor and gave it a good stomp, causing it to slump down, followed by a few more kicks which finally caused the floor to collapse. Clay eyed the man as he fell down and stepped further to the edge to peer down, noticing the somewhat not so thick cross-section of the floor…almost a meter.

His eyes then followed the descended figure and observed what hell below him has to offer.

**With cloud and Barret**

"What the…?" the dark skinned man grumbled as he witnessed the ceiling above and behind the **Scorpion Mark-2 **caving in unnaturally. His eyes registered a figure falling through the air…..Zack

Landing gracefully in a crouching position even from a 20 meter drop, his head bolted up to see the ugly rear of the **Mark-2. **Wasting not a moment, he drew his sword and charged into battle.

"Is that…?"

"Yeah…" replied Cloud, gripping the side of the empty elevator shaft and trying not to fall to his death. His mind raced to no other thought but to help his friend, but it proved hard when a shit load of bullets threatens to rip you to shreds every time he tried to get out

On the opposite side of the walk way, Zack readied his sword with his left hand. He gripped it from his back and allowed the glow of the materia in its socket to materialize in his other hand.

"**FIRA!" **he recited the spell under his breath, prompting the invoked spell to be released from his palms as he ran. 3 fire balls roughly larger than a football, crackled through the air. To Clay, the spectacle below him intrigued him once more. Magic was all the more interesting the more he witnessed it.

The martial artist noticed that the projectiles were slower than what he predicted** (Not sluggish but just slower than what he thinks)** neither was it burning with raging embers, rather it seemed more like a ball engulfed in squiggly small flames. However he was clearly not disappointed by its power as it proved significantly different. The moment it touched the metal legs of the **Mark-2 **the spell erupted like a bomb and engulfed it's surrounding in a shrouded flames.

As if a dynamite had been strapped on to its legs, **Fira **had completely blown the **Mark-2's** left-rear leg off into the abyss, accompanied by 2 more hits to its main frame that did significant damage for it to stagger a moment and also gain its attention.

However, with one leg out of commission, the angle in which it aimed its assault rifle changed, giving Cloud his much need opportunity.

"Cloud, aim for the legs!" barked Zack from behind the mech as it tried to turn around. The ex-SOLDIER then proceeded to slash away at the rest of the mech's limbs in large arcs of spinning movements, keeping a good flow of large momentum swings that had been created over the years of proficiency with the Buster sword, it seemed like his body and sword were like one and the same.

Following his opponent's movement, the heir to the buster sword dodged easily from a thrust with the mech's sharp legs, he skidded to another leg and continued to rain hell and crush down each of its legs, spilling out its contents and sending pieces of scrap metal hailing in every direction.

Cloud attempted the same but found that little can be done against the **Mark-2** armor, even if he was wearing it down with each attack but significantly slower than Zack. He saw little effect to his thrusts, slashes, and overhead swings. The leg he was working on started to leak fuel, its inner circuits burst into flames and sending its gears out wildly.

On the other hand, the buster sword seemed to dismember and chop each of the **Mark-2's **legs with ease, crashing through the metal like a demolition truck, no doubt with Zack's inhuman strength and the large weight produced by his thick broad sword.

Cloud Strife felt stupid after taking out only one leg as Zack finished the last of its limbs. His mentor then climbed on top of the mech and proceeded to rip and pull out the mounted gun with his bare hands. Just to be sure Zack then punched straight into a compartment of the mech through its midsection, sinking his arms deep into the robot and ripping out an amalgamation of wires.

With that, the **Mark-2** came to a halt, unable to move or function any longer.

Panting away, both men looked at each other in silence before Cloud thanked Zack for the assist.

"No problem…hey you d-" Zack couldn't finish as he heard something crash down behind him.

An overcast of dust smoked up but was cleared away immediately by an unknown force. Revealing Clay who slowly got up and dusted himself, his left foot that was pierced into the ground almost made him trip, but regained his composure before turning his attention to the two ex-Shinra men and said "What…what did I do?"

"I thought I had to climb up and get you" Grunted Zack, looking at what seemed like a small crater with a shoe imprint behind Clay.

"Yeah, well even I thought I couldn't make that 20-ish meter drop, but I….. improvised" Brushing off the incident before shouting to Barret who was walking up behind Cloud and trying to get past the broken pieces of the **Mark-2** "Barret new plan, no bomb!"

"Since when are you giving orders? And I have questions!" Barret commanded, confronting the Armenian man up-front.

Guessing his questions spot-on Clay quickly answered "No I didn't shut down the reactor and for what the fuck is going on….this place is going to melt down anyway, long story…. so no bomb"

"He's right" Zack added before grabbing his sword and rested it on his muscular shoulder.

Biggs and wedge, both men that had disappeared for the entire fight….. Had actually climbed up the same ladder which they had used to come down….However it was now blown to smithereens. Leaning over the platform edge from above, Wedge called Barret from atop.

"Sir, the whole place is coming down!" shouted Wedge, before being grabbed by Biggs right before he fell off the platform for leaning out too much.

"Where's Jessie?" Barret called back as another tremor hit, this one being the largest of them all and causing a **black out** that swept their world into turmoil.

A minute later Barret felt a small headache seeping through his cranium, he guessed it was probably from a small piece of debris that fell on his head during the black out. After a few moments of silence and short exchange of shouts, the emergency lights finally kicked in, revealing Cloud who looked like he was unconscious but was now getting up and Clay who was trying to stand straight after tripping on his own foot yet again, on the other hand Zack who appeared unharmed was talking to Wedge from below the platform.

Running back to the group Zack stated quickly "There's another exit that way" and pointed at the direction in which he came during his assault on the mech.

He continued "Biggs and Wedge can get out on their own, but Jessie….they lost her somewhere in the complex, I'll get her out"

"Hey hey hey! What do you mean **you'll get her?!**" intervened Clay all of a sudden. He didn't like what was brewing up in Zack's head at all.

Not staying for another argument, the SOLDIER turned his back on the group and walk towards the broken ladder.

Seeing that his opinion was not to be considered, Clay followed Zack after assuring Barret and Cloud that he'll be fine and ushered them to go ahead….oh what a lie that was. His selfish side told him to save his own soon to be sorry-ass, but Clay's other half of survival and instincts beg the difference. Surely, he didn't want to lose the only card in his deck.

Grabbing the SOLDIER's shoulder, Clay said "Hold on….I'm coming too!"

Surprised, Zack turned around and asked "I'm fine on my own….. you know that right?"

"I'm not going to throw away the only ace up my sleeve" The shorter man replied sheepishly.

"Neither do I want to die in the coming future nor do I want to live and see it…. I'm pretty sure that I'll die soon without you alive" continued Clay, who couldn't help but admit that his **genius **plan was as shallow as a puddle on a sun. His only hope of surviving against Sephiroth was to pit Zack and Cloud against him once more, in hopes that the endless cycle would be….well **not** be an endless cycle.

"So I'm a card now?...ha!...Fine…Here I'll give you a boost" answered Zack, taking in the Eurasian man's word to heart. What did he mean by **he didn't want to live to see the future**? Zack then knelt down on one knee right below the melted ladder and the moment Clay's foot lodged itself on his gloves, the SOLDIER suddenly gave him a powerful lift, flexing every muscle fibers in his arms to send the younger man whizzing through the air.

To Clay's surprise, his body flew a good 10 meters before he could grab a ladder that wasn't turned into pudding from the **Mark-2's **laser. So it was either that he was lighter than a breeze or Zack had an arm worthy enough to challenge the HULK in an arm wrestling match, but either way he had to climb up so that Zack could get on behind him?…

"_oh fuck…..never mind" _Clay thought to himself as he saw Zack climbing the wall using his sword that had impaled the metal plated wall and using it as a ledge to grab on to, repeating the process and before long he ascended up to the platform with ease.

"Fucking showoff" Clay mumbled to himself as he reached the top of the platform.

"Jealous?" Zack sneered, trotting forward and not wasting any time, followed by Clay who scorned the thought of it with disgust in his eyes.

"_I should try improvising more, Infinity at its best" _thought Clay feeling a bit motivated, after all it's not every day that you can land a mighty 20 meter drop using only Ki, in human terms….pretty damn impossible.

Assuming that he can tweak his **Soul Crushing Strike, **a technique that requires the user to circulate his Ki and releases it through his limbs **(Possibly elbow and knees too) **at the same time the person extends the limb. However the back draw is, it exhausts a large amount of Ki and would require the practitioner to have a large reserve of Ki pool.

The son of one of the strongest martial artist darted his mind to an entry he had read a few days back.

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_**Entry No.70342**__**nd**__**, August, 1930, Maxwell Hayton.**_

_**I arrived in Korea for a week now and realized that the people here are mostly oblivious to the Murim universe. My affiliation with them was very thin, partly because I consider their ideals too extreme and yet intriguing… hence I try to limit my use of high level techniques that would make me recognizable as a master or even a Martial artist. **_

_**The man name Un-Wol had explained to me the philosophy behind such cast and sects of division in this world of Murim and how it was governed. He was quiet surprised too by the fact that I was not under Murim's radar and the reason why that was, is unbeknownst to him. **_

_**Un-Wol's knowledge in his own field was interesting….but saying that would be the greatest understatement I made yet, he seems to have a very interesting technique called the "Soul Crushing strike", but to my dismay Un-Wol refused to teach me….but maybe if I observed it enough, I could hopefully replicate such a….(continued)**_

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"Murim...…hmm" Clay mumbled to himself while reminiscing what was written in his father's journal, in which he analyzed whenever he had a chance.

Back tracking through the area in which Cloud and Barret had traversed, the two men found the terrain unforgiving. It was impossible to walk more than 10 steps before either jumping over a hole or climbing some sort of rubble, plus they had to keep an eye out for Jessie.

As luck smiled upon them, when Zack decided to check out the crane-like walkway, to his relief Jessie's body lay limp on the zig-zag floor. She appeared to be unconscious and injured, noticeably by the trail of blood that ran down her cheeks from her forehead which soaked her left shoulder.

"Is she alive?" Clay asked from behind Zack.

"Barely, she's got a faint pulse but she'll live" responded the ex-SOLDIER while checking her pulse.

"Can you get her out?" added Clay as he pointed to Jessie's right leg which was stuck between the crane like walkway.

Without missing a beat, Zack pried open the small opening with his bare hands using his surreal strength to let loose of his comrade's leg. He then vaulted her over his shoulder, trying his best not to injure her any further.

"Lest go!" shouted Clay who went on a bit further. He was confronted by yet another pile of debris falling from atop blocking their way back, accompanied by several more tremors which seemed to know no end as the reactor was falling apart….or melting itself to be precise.

Deciding to take the road less traveled the 3 AVALANCHE members made their way back to their first entrance, the train station. With much difficulty, no thanks to the fire or smoke that populated the entire compound and after vigorously climbing through the final set of stairs, both men's faces were littered with ashes, dust, blood and sweat.

"Oh please *Huff* tell me a train…*pant* is waiting for us" said Clay, with a scorched throat.

"You wish.*Cough…cough!* " replied Zack who was equally effected by the lack of oxygen.

The smoke had scalded their eyes and both men couldn't help but stumble like when bambi was first born.

Arriving at the train station they had used to access the reactor, Zack slowly placed Jessie down and checked her pulse once more….a small pulse seeped through the skin of her neck and to the relief of the ex-SOLDIER.

"Are you done playing Jesus yet?" Clay asked as he sat on the platform, wiping his eyes and catching his breath and panting away heavily.

"Shit!" was all that Zack answered….more like exclaimed.

"Jesus is shit?" Clay replied in his obnoxious tone and wondering if Zack even knew who Jesus was. Turning around, he found his answer. Jessie's body was in spasm, her body shook uncontrollably with her eyes slowly rolling back.

"What's wrong with her?!" Zack said in panic.

"She's going into cardiac arrest…or shock, shit! I don't know do I look like a doctor to you?"

Out of impulse Clay whipped out a an auto injector from his father's black trench coat, popping its cover to immediately jam its end into Jessie's chest near her left shoulder like he was stabbing her with a knife and much to Zack's surprise.

"Come on, come on!" grumbled Clay while trying to hold down Jessie's body.

"What is that!?" Zack asked confused and panicking.

"Adrenaline…or Epinephrine, same thing!" shouted Clay as he held the injector in place for almost 10 seconds now.

Taking out the injector, Clay watched as Jessie's body sprung to life. The AVALANCHE member breathed in probably the largest breath he ever saw anyone take, watching her chest heave from taking in the air and her eyes darting like a pinball. She sat up immediately and caught Clay's neck in order to choke it, but her hand met his as he caught it deftly.

"**Friendlies….you remember friendlies right?"** Zack said under a small smile.

He added jokingly "You almost gave me a heart attack"

Breathing heavily Jessie hadn't said a word...well obviously because she had no idea what happened. Her eyes darted between the two men as she tried to remember the events following up to this point…..nothing rang a bell.

"Who…" She managed to say before being interrupted by a shout followed with approaching footsteps that rocked her ears.

Suddenly, Jessie's breath was taken away from her as she was heaved up onto the man with long dark hair and he seemed to carry her with ease. The world was somewhat slow…too slow for Jessie, she heard gunshots, which made her eye dart from the military boots below her that was kicking up dirt…. to the man running next to her.

He wore a long black trench coat, which fluttered as he ran. The man held a pistol in his right hand and was firing it blindly at someone or something behind him. She could have sworn every step both men took was like an eternity, her nostrils burned with the smell of gun powder and she could clearly see it's residue from the pistol. Even the flare that erupted from each shot seemed sluggish and somewhat beautiful, like an aurora light.

Her mouth felt salty…._"oh…. right" _she thought as her tongue touched the red liquid that ran from her head down to her face.

Her eyes then registered the fall of the man next to her, blood squirting out like a squished fruit from his left thigh, as he fell to his knees.

He looked scared, or was he? Their stares connected and even if she couldn't hear him, his agony reached her. She tried to look away, but as the ground sunk… Or so she thought it had sunk, the man was now below her had reached out a hand….. but not towards her.

He was actually still trying to crawl away.

As the ground below her sunk further and was replaced by another platform…..metallic, rumbling and moving. Jessie looked up once more and noticed that she was moving further and further away from the fallen man pretty quickly. The constant sound that rocked her ear could only mean one thing…..she was on a moving train.

As her eyes felt like a closing curtain to the longest opera, she finally heard the man that carried her speak…..actually he shouted, in anger or sadness she didn't know but all she heard was…"Clay".

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Clay's mind was in a state of oblivion, he knew not of his condition, time or what he was doing. However, a single impulse of a measly, tiny 70 mili-Volts cranked up his brain through his nerve endings, which in turn snapped his mind back from darkness.

His mouth and throat was as dry as the Sahara desert. Clay felt the massive pounding of his heart all the way to his temples. He then became aware of another sense, one that was an unwelcomed guest and yet a very familiar one. He knew it all too well…..

Clay opened his eyes in the next instant another pulse of pain coursed through his body. He had fallen unconscious for only a second which seemed like an hour to some. The Armenian man pushed himself up from the ground in which he lay flat upon, his ears then rang from the sound of a train and another constant shouting from behind him.

"Shoot him!" a voice called, prompting him to get up despite the sharp pain from his left thigh.

Turning his head around, Clay saw 10 to 15 men, forming 2 rows, the front row crouching and the other standing behind, all aiming down the iron sights of their assault rifles approximately 20 meters away.

"Shit…" he swore under his breath as he turned and limped further away towards the rail way.

As he reached the edge of the train platform, Clay frantically looked for a way to escape his death…..which brings him to another question.

Why isn't he dead yet? Turning his head once more, his eyes registered another figure, a fat one at that. Wearing a burgundy suit, the overweight man stood behind the 2 rows of infantry, his hand held up in a fist signaling what Clay guessed meant for a STOP.

The man mumbled something to the soldiers, immediately every infantry hoisted their weapon and then proceeded towards Clay.

"What do you want?!" Clay shouted.

"You're lucky we're taking you alive, President Shinra has taken quiet an interest in you, he thinks you're another **Cetra** or something" A soldier mumbled with a vampire smile. He didn't get a direct answer but it was something.

Gradually, 10 of Shinra's men moved in on Clay. His stance faltered by his injured leg and his mind distracted by the pain, he wouldn't be able to take them all...or so he hoped

"Arrgh…why does everyone wants me as their play thing…fuck, I must've been really cruel to puppies in my previous life" grumbled Clay to himself, even though the thought of a second life was out of his grasp.

Seeing no point in conflict, since he was to be captured alive anyway, the man in the trench coat threw his gun down in surrender and slowly lifted both his arms to surrender….for real this time. But As fate never really gave him a breather, why would it give him room any time soon? Following his surrender, an infantry unit walked up to him and instead of cuffing Clay, sucker punched his abdomen.

Hunching over slightly in surprise and damage, Clay growled "Uffff!What... the fuck!?"

"We get to take you in alive, not alive and kicking….right men?" a man in blue infantry uniform spoke among the surrounding soldiers.

"That means we get to have fun wi-…." ***BOOM*** his sentence was cut short by the sight of his fellow comrade rolling towards him, coming to a rest at his foot….the man's uniform was burnt at his chest, like a tiny explosion had occurred around his skin.

Clay held his right fist up to guard his face and while keeping his left low and swung it slightly in a Detroit boxing style.

"Heh…who knew **Soul Crushing Strike **would work so well with boxing" Clay snickered and grimaced as pain pulsed from his left leg.

Without a word, obviously….The surrounding men moved in on Clay. The first one to foolishly rush in with a metal baton was met with his own medicine. Clay quickly disarmed and acquired the baton from the infantry after his initial swing that missed. He then proceeded to smash the poor man's knee from behind causing the infantry to kneel down, followed by another swing to his neck knocking him out. He did it in 1.8 seconds with a leg injury.

Turning to the closest person, Clay threw the baton with all the force he could muster which luckily pierced into the helmet of one of the infantry, breaking his visor but Clay doubted it pierced his eyes or head….at least he panicked and stumbled to the ground.

With every movement his mind was slowly succumbing to the pain, Clay knew that this fight was pointless….but to be taken by force even if he surrendered already? Oh how he fucking hate it.

Following his clouded mind, the martial artist didn't notice a soldier sneaking up behind him. The man had caught him from behind holding back his arms, without missing a beat, another soldier quickly got into position and slugged Clay's face twice sending blood across the floor and was about to follow up by kicking him on his stomach. However right before he was able to kick, Clay growled something in his Indo-European language, he bent forward lifting the man behind him while gritting his teeth, pushing with his good leg, Clay flipped the man that held him towards the person in front of him.

Lifting that man had really taken a toll on his injured leg, bleeding a spurting more blood than ever.

Regaining his stance, his jaw pulsed with a familiar pain….aye! When he was younger, he was punched more than enough to even remember what being punched feels like, even if he wasn't being punched.

A lucky swing of another infantry caught Clay right on his left chest, right on his lower rib. It made him stumble towards another man that immediately kneed his back. His body bounced like a pinball towards another infantry that swung a baton at his face, but Clay quickly blocked it with his forearm, though it fractured one of his ulna bones in his right arm in the process. The infantry with the baton cocked his arms back for another swing but was met by Clay's quick jab to the face. Clay, now with a bloodied face, faked a hook to the upper body while in truth, gave a good old uppercut to the man's balls/Ding dongs/ Shimi tang-tangs/nuts/ The sac…etc and Instantly putting the man out of the picture.

A moment passed, 6 then 7, 8, 9 and 10. Each man fell to the ground around the European man, but not before inflicting devastating damage to his body.

Some of the fallen men got up and some more appeared behind them. Clay's vision blurred, but he held on to the last thread of consciousness…..he was losing blood faster than Lindsey Lohan's interval of revisiting rehab.

Out of nowhere, a man struck his back and another punched his temples. Falling to the ground, they continued to beat him all over, pressing on his bullet wound even further. Though he didn't care, for he felt no pain now, his mind was slipping back to oblivion…oh how he wished he knew how to use the **Black Heaven and Earth **(From **The breaker)** technique at this moment. He would probably massacre, obliterate, destroy and kill everyone in his path. His vision ended with a memory of his father's journal.

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_**Entry No. 70451**__**st**__**, April, 1931 Maxwell Hayton.**_

_**I am leaving Korea as fast as I can….. After 8 month of observing the Murim, I came to realize that they are indeed power hungry men, hell bent on never letting the normal world clash with the ones of martial artists. The Black heaven and Earth technique is taught by the Black Heaven & Earth School (No shit). It is the ultimate power distribution technique, coveted by all the Murim. It is the only technique strong enough to deal with the amount of Ki let off by the One Moon Divine Dan (An expensive medicine that give user immense Ki) or when a person is able to acquire large amount of Ki through natural means. I had over stayed my welcome to Un-wol, for his tragedy is indeed tragic. For now I will...…(Continued)**_

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That's all for this chapter folks, see you next time…Reviews are always welcomed. In fact reviews = speed in which I write + Quality.


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